What about new-build properties?


Sellers of newly built homes

Will have to provide a Home Information Pack for potential buyers.

Where a home is marketed "off-plan" before it is physically complete, it will need a Pack (subject to the Packs phased implementation) but it will not have a full Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).
Instead the Pack will contain a Predicted Energy Assessment.
This will look similar to the graphs from a full EPC and will be produced from the design plans for the building rather than a physical inspection.
There is no specified form for the predicted energy assessment but there is a template availble from the DCLG.

Exemptions

  • Sales of new homes built under Regulation 17C of the Building Regulations (2006) are currently excluded from the scope of the scheme until April 2008, when EPCs will be required for all new homes on construction. Properties built under earlier Building Regulations are not excluded and these will therefore need a pack if they meet the other requirements of the HIP regulations, i.e.:
    • a four bedroom home marketeded on or after 1 August 2007;
    • a three bedroom home marketed on or after 10 September 2007;
    • a home with two bedrooms or fewer marketed on or after 14 December 2007.
    Sales of homes built to previous Building Regulations (i.e. pre 2006) will need a Pack and EPC (or Predicted Energy Assessment). The EPC for these buildings will be produced using the currently available RdSAP software.
    The developer or builder should know which building regulations applied if there is any doubt about whether a HIP is required for a particular property.
    As most new homes are sold 'off plan' before they're built, there might be differences between Packs for these sales and Packs provided for properties sold as completed dwellings.
    For example, the searches for the property and title information may cover a wider area if the property has not yet been allocated an address and individual titles have not yet been created.

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