As part of the legal requirements for providing a Home Information Pack, your conveyancer or solicitor will need to acquire an Energy Performance Certificate, or EPC. The EPC is a useful method of determining just how energy efficient your home, or the home you intend to buy, actually is. It considers a number of important factors in determining a scaled representation of energy efficiency expressed on a scale of A-G with the most efficient being A.

The EPC is beneficial for a number of reasons. Primarily it indicates how efficient the energy performance of a home is and this dictates the energy bills for that home. The most efficient homes, that fall in band A, will typically have low fuel bills because they retain and use heat properly and efficiently. In contrast, the poorer performing homes that fall into lower bands will have high fuel costs on an annual basis. As well as showing potential fuel bill costs and whether any work may be required to improve the energy efficiency of a home, the EPC also gives an indication of how little or much damage a home is doing to the environment.

Energy efficiency has been hitting the headlines for several years now because of the damage to the environment that, among other influencing factors, has been spurred by inefficient homes. Homes with an EPC in bracket A can be considered to be highly energy efficient and therefore doing minimal damage to the environment whereas those in band G are contributing more to environmental damage and climate change.

As part of a Home Information Pack (HIP) and often as part of the conveyancing process, it is possible to include a Home Condition Report, or HCR for short. Initially, the HCR was to be considered a legal requirement of the HIP but the government has changed its stance on this and there is now no legal requirement for include an HCR in your pack. One can be purchased as an optional extra when having your pack produced, however, and may make the sale a more appealing prospect to any potential buyer.

Once produced, an HCR is a legally binding document, that outlines the physical condition of the property for sale. If a problem is found following completion of the sale that was not outlined in the HCR then the seller is liable for any costs incurred in the correction of that problem or damages that ensue because of it. On the other hand, if you are selling a property and an issue is highlighted in the HCR then the buyer legally has no ground to take issue with you over that matter once the sale has completed.

The HCR is not a legal requirement in either the purchase or the sale of a property and it is not a necessary part of the HIP. Costing between approximately £250 or more many sellers consider it to be an expense that they can do without but it does genuinely help to ensure complete transparency in the sale of the property and it will encourage buyers to consider the purchase of your property.

When it comes to choosing a conveyancer there are many more options available to the buyer than ever before. Since the industry has been opened to competition, it is no longer necessary to opt for a family or high street solicitor to conduct the conveyancing on your home – although this option does still exist. There are now essentially three types of conveyancing firm.

• A conveyancing factory, despite the less than romantic title, is a viable option that most commonly operates on the Internet. They deal with high volumes of accounts so while this may mean that you don’t get your own dedicated point of contact, it also means a no-move no-fee service with a fixed price guarantee.
• A specialist conveyancing firm also operates in larger volume and deals very specifically with conveyancing and related contracts. Cheaper than a high street solicitor, choosing the right conveyancing firm means shopping around to find one that offers a transparent quote and has a good reputation for providing better than average customer service levels.
• The high street solicitor is the service most widely associated with conveyancing because traditionally they were the only ones that could offer a conveyancing service. Often they are the most expensive option and service levels vary greatly from firm to firm; a situation that has improved recently but is still evident.

When you begin the buying process it is likely that your estate agent and even your mortgage company will provide details of preferred firms. It is not necessary to choose these firms and they are often working on a commission basis so there is no real recommendation. Shop around and get your own deal from the best services you can find.

Every non-exempt property in England and Wales is required to be accompanied by a Home Information Pack, or HIP, on the day it is first marketed. The seller is responsible for the payment and provision of the Pack and usually relies on the conveyancing service or solicitor to gather the necessary documents in a timely fashion. There are some time constraints to the documents that are included and to the pack itself but they shouldn’t prove too restrictive in most cases.

Some of the legal documents need to be three months old or newer when the property is first marketed. In all cases, the contents of the HIP must be no older than twelve months old. Because the HIP is created just prior to the marketing of a house and takes approximately one to two weeks to complete this shouldn’t cause any problems in the sale process.

Once a house is on the market, the HIP remains in place until either the property is sold or it is taken off the market. If a property is taken off the market but put back on within twelve months, the same HIP can be used negating the need to pay for a new one.

A lot of the documents are time sensitive to the buyer and become useless after a period of time. However, the seller is not actually responsible for the provision of more up to date documents as long as they have met the requirements mentioned above.

A major part, and an important part, of conveyancing is the conducting of local authority searches. These searches will usually attract a charge made by the local authority, which will in turn be included as one of the disbursements levied by your conveyancing solicitor or conveyancer. A local search conducted for conveyancing processes is a very specific search and for a little extra financial outlay it is possible to get a more thorough and informative search conducted.

Local authorities all hold details of planned projects and developments for their region. A standard local authority search will turn up details of any proposed development that falls within the boundary of a specific property. It doesn’t list developments that are due to begin anywhere outside those boundaries no matter their proximity.

A separate planning search enables the buyer of a property to determine whether any developments are scheduled on neighbouring and nearby properties. Obviously, these can have a major impact on a property and for the £20 or so extra it can save some real heartache in the long run. This local search will not be included in the conveyancing service or fee, however, and you should request it separately from your conveyancer.

Local searches range in cost from authority to authority and need to be a part of the conveyancing process. You should ensure that the cost is included as part of the list of disbursements that came with your conveyancing quote to ensure that you know exactly what you are paying for and to ensure that you aren’t hit with a surprise charge at the end of the process.