Home Information Packs began to be phased in from 1st August 2007 starting with properties being marketed for sale with 4 or more bedrooms. Since then, 3 bedroom properties were introduced on 10th September 2007 with 2 and 1 bedroom properties to follow as of 14th December 2007.
HIPs were introduced by the government to speed up the property transaction by providing key information, such as local authority searches, up front, saving time at the end of the transaction. By speeding up the transaction process, the risk of a transaction falling through is minimised and could potentially save money to both vendors and estate agents in terms of surveys and marketing time respectively.