Home Information Packs (HIPs) are intended to be the biggest shake-up to the home-buying process for many years. Their goal is to reduce the number of home sales that fall through and to allow buyers to find out everything they need to know about a house before they make an offer - rather than afterwards, as is the case under the current system.

There has been a fair measure of controversy over the introduction of HIPs, but the principles behind the new system are worthwhile and hopefully this system will mature to serve the needs of home buyers - as successfully as it has in Denmark and parts of Australia, for example.

For this guide, we have gathered together all the information you, as a buyer or seller, will need to know about HIPs. We've included a list of all the compulsory and optional elements of the HIP, information on how you can compile your own HIPs and a selection of sample forms - so you know what to expect.

Although HIPs will only apply to homes with four or more bedrooms at first, they will eventually apply to all home sales. Whether you are affected right now or not, understanding this new system will help to ensure that you get the maximum benefit from HIPs - at the minimum cost.

HIP Overview - What's It All About Then?

The Home Information Pack (HIP) is a set of documents that provide detailed information about a residential property. Home sellers will have to purchase a HIP before they can market their property and will then have to make a copy of the HIP available to all prospective buyers of their home on request.

HIPs have two main purposes:

1.To provide much of the information about a property that a buyer normally only gets after they have made an offer

2. To provide information about the energy efficiency and environmental impact (CO2 emissions) of a property

HIPs are intended to benefit both buyers and sellers by providing buyers with as much information as possible about a property before they make an offer, rather than afterwards.

It is hoped that this will reduce the number of sales that fall through, reducing the amount of money buyers waste on sales that do not complete and speeding up the sale process.

It is true that HIPs were originally going to contain a survey (known as the Home Condition Report), that would have made them more useful to buyers, but this has been made an optional component of the HIP.

The government have said that surveys may become a compulsory part of a HIP at some point in the future, but have not said when.