A coalition of housing bodies has stepped up the pressure on the government to scrap its watered down home information packs.

Michael Coogan, head of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, told last week’s Property Forum, they were a “costly indulgence”.

He described the requirement that homeowners should produce a complex energy performance certificate when selling their properties as an example of a regulation that would hold up house buying.

The National Association of Estate Agents has echoed his call for the packs to be axed.

The government has withdrawn the requirement that the packs must contain a home condition report.