Home Information Packs (HIPs) - Scotland

Home Information Packs (HIPs) - Scotland

Single Survey Scheme or Purchasers Information Pack .

Scotland's executive will also be introducing a mandatory information pack for property sales North of the Border, but the details will vary slightly from the England and Wales version and will be known as the Single Survey Scheme or Purchasers Information Pack (PIP).

The changes were originally recommended by the Housing Improvement Task Force (HITF)

The scheme was piloted on a volunatry basis from July 2004 but the potential marketing advantages did not prove to be a sufficient incentive for house sellers to take part.

Following the end of the pilot and the decision to move towards a compulsory system, the Purchasers Information Advisory Group (PIAG) was set up to advise on the development and implementation of the Single Survey and potentially a Purchasers Information Pack (PIP).

The current postion on the PIP is that the Executive is working with stakeholders on a number of issues in relation to the development of the PIP.

The Group is working to develop a PIP that does not make the selling exercise more cumbersome or expensive by changing the balance of the transaction to the 'front-end'.

They are also trying to ensure that the production of the Pack is not too onerous on the seller or selling agent in terms of cost or preparation time i.e. the marketing of the property must be not be delayed unduly.

The Group recognises that there is a need to strike a balance between the supply of useful information to the purchaser and the cost of supplying that information.

No doubt the details of the scheme will become available in time and we will keep this page regularly updated.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the differences in the house buying and selling process in Scotland, there is a very useful advice guide from the Citizens Advice Bureau.

In very brief summary, an offer to purchase a property in Scotland is usually an unconditional offer that is legally binding. Therefore all the necessary legal enquiries, the condition survey and valuation have to be undertaken before an offer is made.