Commentary on Sections Part 5 - Home Information Packs Section 156: Duty to provide copy of home information pack on request
327.This section requires a responsible person to provide a copy of the home information pack to a potential buyer where he makes a request for one. Nothing in the Act stops estate agents from making available general particulars or other descriptions of the property that they are marketing on the seller's behalf.
328.The "responsible person" is under a duty to provide a copy of the pack, or any part of it, within the "permitted period". In most cases this period is 14 days from the date of the request (subsection (9)). The seller may, however, apply either of the conditions described in section 157 before providing a copy and, where he does so, the permitted period starts from when they are complied with. Section 157 describes the effect of these conditions further.
329.Subsection (2) requires that the copy is a copy of the home information pack, or of the requested document from the pack, as it stands at the time when it is provided. In other words, the copy must be the most recent version. The pack, or document, must conform to any regulations made under section 163. Subsection (10) provides that copies should be in paper form unless the potential buyer agrees to them being made available in electronic form.
330.There are three circumstances in which the responsible person may turn down a request for a copy of the home information pack without breaching any duty. These are described in subsection (4). The first of these is where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person making the request cannot afford the property. For example, the agent might know the financial circumstances of the person in question or the seller may want to exclude people who cannot demonstrate that they have arranged an "in principle" mortgage.
331.The second applies where the responsible person believes that the person making the request is not really interested in buying this particular property or one like it. An example of this might be a journalist posing as a buyer in order to see the home information pack relating to a celebrity's home. Another example might be a request for a copy from someone who the estate agent knows to be a habitual time waster.
332.The third arises if it is believed that the potential buyer is not a person to whom the seller would wish to sell the property. There are human rights implications here and this right of refusal simply reflects the current position where someone can refuse to deal with a particular person if he wishes to, and for no particular reason. However, the section makes it clear that these exceptions do not over-ride existing laws concerning racial, sexual and other types of discrimination.
333.Subsection (5) provides that the exceptions described above do not apply in cases where the responsible person knows or suspects that the person making the request for a copy of the home information pack is an officer of an enforcement authority. Sections 166 to 170 deal with enforcement further.
334.Subsection (6) provides that a seller who is marketing his own home (and is therefore treated as a "responsible person") is not under a duty to provide a copy of the home information pack where there is another responsible person (such as an estate agent) and the seller reasonably believes that that other person has a pack in his control This exception only applies where the seller informs the potential buyer that requests for copies should be made to that other responsible person (subsection (7)). So, a seller who employs an estate agent to market a property and markets it himself at the same time would not be under a duty to provide a copy of the pack provided he believed that the estate agent had the pack and informed the potential buyer of this.
335.Subsection (8) allows the responsible person to make a reasonable charge to cover the costs incurred in making and sending a copy of the pack.
336.Subsection (9) provides that the duty to provide a copy ceases to apply in cases where the responsible person ceases to be responsible before the end of the permitted period. Sections 152 and 153 set out when responsibility ceases.