HIP - Home Information Pack

Every night when Paul Taliotis gets home from his job as a carpenter on the building sites of High Wycombe he tries to fit in two hours of revision.

Compulsory information packs for house sales which could cost up to £1,000 were slammed today as 'half-baked and dangerous'. A major report warns of the devastating knock-on effects of the Government's controversial plans ranging from unemployment to soaring house prices.

THE controversial introduction of Home Information Packs will lead to a fall in the number of properties sold and harm the economy, according to a new report.

With compulsory home information packs due next year, we conduct a survey of their value to buyers and sellers. Jill Insley reports Home information packs are widely expected to be a good thing for first-time buyers, but a mini-trial for The Observer indicates that sellers will also benefit from the new schemes.

I'm getting pretty fed up with the constant criticism of home information packs by the likes of the National Association of Estate Agents, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the Law Society and, undoubtedly the most ill-informed of all, the Conservative party. Week after week they moan that Hips will push up the cost of selling your home, put sellers off, distort house prices and make it easier for buyers to gazunder.