New system will deter people from putting up homes for sale say agents

Estate agents have hit out at new rules governing Home Information Packs, which come into force today.

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said the new regulations, which stop people from marketing their homes before they have a pack, would stop people from putting up their homes for sale.

Previously, homeowners could start trying to sell as soon as they had ordered a pack.

Hips were brought in to speed up the transaction process by giving buyers more upfront information. But the NAEA said 65% of estate agents thought the new system would put vendors off trying to sell their homes and 89% did not think the changes would benefit buyers.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, said: "It is extremely worrying that the government is pushing ahead with an ill-judged and unpopular scheme that, in the opinion of UK property professionals, will actually slow the market down.

"It reflects a stubbornness on the part of the government and a reluctance to admit that Hips in the main are pointless and expensive - and according to their own figures, ignored by the very people they claim benefit from them."

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