How long does a Hip last?

Q Is it true that a home information pack (Hip) is valid for 12 months, even if you take your property off the market and then readvertise it. Our estate agent advised it would be valid for only three months. AW A What your estate agent must be thinking of is the rules that say that the title documents­ and searches should be no more than three months old when you begin marketing a property and the Hip is first produced. While a property is on the market, a Hip does not have to be updated, but you may have to provide up-to-date documents within the Hip if marketing of the property stops then starts again. However, you don't have to update documents – and so can carry on using the same Hip if either of the following apply: • Marketing of the property stopped because you accepted an offer but the sale has since fallen through (although marketing must begin again within one year of the date the property was first put on the market­ or, if later, within 28 days of a sale falling through). • Marketing of the property stopped for any other reason but you put the property back on the market within one year of the date when it was first put up for sale. The effect of these rules is to give a Hip a shelf life of at least 12 months.