From 2007 sellers or their estate agents will be required to have key information available before marketing their property.
This will be preceeded by a voluntary period of operation and a dry run beginning 2006, an attempt to ensure the smooth introduction of the packs.
Housing Minister Keith Hill told the Property Forum in London that the packs, included in the Housing Act 2004, would help end “a shambolic homebuying and selling process”.
He said: “The current system forces buyers and sellers to negotiate in the dark, only finding out the facts towards the end of the process.
“With the HIP this key information will be available up-front. Buyers and sellers will be able to negotiate with confidence and transactions can proceed smoothly to a successful completion.”
But Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), said: “The NAEA is bitterly disappointed that the government has insisted on pushing through these ill measures with clear disregard for their potentially damaging impact on the housing market.
“HIPs will cause unnecessary delays and frustration to house buyers and sellers and will inevitably have a negative effect on the market.”
Paul Smith, chief executive of Spicerhaart, said: “This is a positive step. Having test-run HIPs in our branches we share the government’s view that, in theory, the packs will help the homebuyer.
“However details of how packs will be tested and implemented remain very unclear.
“The costs of producing the packs - around £1,000 each - make it hard to see who will volunteer for the proposed pilot scheme in 2006. Only a compulsory government-funded scheme will test the marketplace to iron-out issues associated with HIPs to meet its aim of speeding up the home buying and selling process.”
