The person responsible for marketing a property (this could be you, or in most cases, the estate agent) must have commissioned a Home Information Pack by the time that the property is on the market. As soon as you have received the Energy Performance Certificate (a compulsory part of the Pack), you must produce a Pack and provide potential buyers with a copy of the Pack, or any document from it on request. In most cases, this period is 14 days after the date of the request.

Note: First Day Marketing provisions have been extended for an additional 5 months to allow for full flexibility - from 1 January to 1 June, to ensure continued smooth implementation of HIPs.

* Potential buyers should usually be entitled to a copy of the Pack if they want it and are prepared to pay a reasonable fee for the copying costs, but the seller or estate agent can turn down requests without incurring a penalty where it is believed that:

• The person could not afford the property in question. The seller might, for example, want to exclude people who cannot demonstrate that they have arranged an 'in principle' mortgage
• The person making the request is not really interested in buying the property – for example, a journalist posing as a buyer to gain access to the Pack relating to a celebrity's home
• The potential buyer is not a person to whom the seller would wish to sell the property. The current position is that sellers can refuse to sell to a particular person, and do not have to give a reason. It should be emphasised, however, that this does not affect anyone's rights under legislation governing discrimination on the grounds of race, sex or disability.