© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
This government has never been brilliant at the detail of legislation. Take Home Information Packs. Come next June, every seller must have a HIP before they can market their home. The pack, which must include searches and a Home Condition Report, has been through various pilots since 2000. But has the government ever looked specifically at its impact on leaseholders?
According to DCLG, a HIP will cost around £600-£700. But, even if you accept this figure, which most in the industry don’t, that’s the cost for a freehold house. For a flat-owner, a HIP will be more complex, more expensive, and could significantly delay him putting his home on the market.
On top of the documentation a freeholder must provide, the leaseholder is required to supply eight further pieces of information, including the lease, service charge statements and details of major works. If a single required document is missing when the seller wishes to go to market, he must wait a further 14 days to start selling his home. While a freeholder’s HIP could be up and running in 2-5 days, the process is likely to take three weeks for a leaseholder.
Then there’s the cost. Much of the additional information for a leasehold HIP will have to be supplied by the managing agent, who’ll charge. Of course, although flats are generally cheaper than houses – an average £258,000 in Greater London as opposed to £334,000 for a freehold semi – it has always cost disproportionately more to sell a leasehold property. And much of the information required for a HIP is already needed during conveyancing. But it hasn’t been demanded upfront and at speed before.
Managing agents are likely to increase their fees. And there are other, as yet unknown, charges. What will be the price for more complex leasehold packs? Pack providers haven’t yet finalised their charges. How much will an HCR cost, given that it must report on the condition, not just of the flat, but of the block? The DCLG says it is down to “market forces.”
The industry estimate for the average freehold HIP in London is £1000. For a flat, that rises to £1,500. The government promises that during its ‘dry run’ it will evaluate the effects on leasehold properties. But of the 8,000 voluntary HIPs it has put in circulation, how many are for flats? “I suspect,” admits a DCLG spokeswoman,
“we don’t have many leaseholders using them at the moment.”
Jane Barry, Associate Editor