| For many people buying a house will be the biggest | | | | case of a leasehold property a copy of the Lease |
| financial commitment one might make in one's lifetime. | | | | must also be provided. |
| As such it can be really daunting. The house may | | | | Typically the seller will employ an agent to help with |
| look fine from the street, but how is the potential | | | | the drawing up of the necessary documentation. |
| buyer supposed to know what horrors lie hidden | | | | Agencies of this type are regulated by the Property |
| beneath the veneer? | | | | Codes Compliance Board (PCCB), who have the |
| Have the powers that be any plans to build a | | | | responsibility of ensuring that those delivering the |
| motorway at the end of the garden? Is there a | | | | service are wholly compliant with the Search Code |
| sewage plant in the next street which impacts upon | | | | and HIP Code. The PCCB keeps a register of all the |
| the neighbourhood whenever there is a prevailing | | | | agencies committed to operating within these |
| wind? Is it under the airport flightpath? And what | | | | standards of practice. |
| about the structural condition of the building itself? | | | | One company that is registered with the PCCB and |
| Fortunately here in the UK one doesn't enter into a | | | | works within the terms of these Codes is Purple |
| contract with one's eyes completely closed. There is | | | | Bridge. Operating in the Bristol, North Somerset and |
| a statutory obligation upon anyone selling a residential | | | | Gloucestershire areas, Purple Bridge provides clear, |
| property to provide a Home Information Pack (HIP), | | | | precise and easy to follow information about the |
| which will be made available to the prospective buyer | | | | services it provides and the fees it charges. |
| before any marketing gets underway. | | | | These operating practices exist to protect the buyer |
| The HIP has to contain a Home Information Pack | | | | from any unforeseen problems or difficulties when |
| Index, an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), a | | | | purchasing the freehold or leasehold of a residential |
| Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ), a Sale | | | | dwelling. Their implementation makes sure that no |
| Statement, an official copy of the Register and of | | | | matter how great an undertaking it is buying a new |
| the Title Plan, plus all the standard searches from the | | | | home the purchaser is still able to sleep soundly. |
| local authority and Drainage & Water. In the | | | | |