Andy Knee, managing director of LMS, commented: “Home Information Packs will make little difference to the overall cost of buying and selling a home as they will simply redistribute part of the total cost from buyer to seller.
“What they will do is bring forward much of the information and processes already used in a transaction and so enable it to go through more quickly.
“We support the Conservatives’ drive to make home ownership easier, but the reality is that first time buyers will actually be better off with HIPs as the cost of elements like surveys and searches, at the moment paid for by the buyer, will be covered in advance by the property's seller.
“So not only will HIPs make home purchase cheaper for first-time buyers, they will make it easier and faster for them to get onto the property ladder.
“The Conservative Party is quite wrong to say that HIPs will make it more difficult for first-time buyers to buy their first home, all the evidence shows that exactly the opposite will happen.
“Our research also shows the average amount of the cost of a transaction which will be transferred to the HIP will be nearer to £600 than the £1000 being quoted by the Conservative Party.”
Mr Knee’s statement is in response to claims by Caroline Spelman, the shadow secretary for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, that: “Labour's new Home Information Packs will add up to £1,000 to the cost of selling a home, according to the National Association of Estate Agents, without providing satisfactory assurances to buyers. First-time buyers are likely to be most seriously affected.”
