Property industry hails binning of Home Improvement Packs

It means home-owners will no longer need to spend money providing one of the packs , known as Hips, before they can put their property up for sale.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles announced the suspension yesterday, ahead of plans to abolish the packs permanently.

But sellers will still be required to get an energy performance certificate, showing how energy efficient a property is, within 28 days of putting their home on the market.

The news was welcomed by estate agents who have long called for an end to the packs, saying they failed to help home buyers and discouraged people from putting their property on the market.

The chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents, Peter Bolton King, said: "For those of us who have weathered the turbulent market conditions of the past year, the suspension of Hips is very welcome news.

"It will be greeted enthusiastically by both the housing market and house buyers, few of whom have paid much attention to these pointless packs."

The Government said it had taken swift action to avoid uncertainty and prevent a slump in the housing market after signalling its intention to get rid of Hips in its coalition agreement last week.

Ministers estimate that the move will save consumers around 870m during the coming 10 years.

Mr Pickles said: "The expensive and unnecessary home information pack has increased the cost and hassle of selling homes and is stifling a fragile housing market."

Hips were introduced in August 2007 for properties with four or more bedrooms in England and Wales, before being gradually rolled out for smaller homes.

They aimed to reduce the amount of time it took to buy and sell a home by providing buyers with more of the information they needed up front, such as local authority searches.

From April last year, homeowners in England and Wales had to have one of the packs in place before they could begin marketing their home.

But estate agents claimed the packs, which typically cost between 299 and 350, were stunting the housing market recovery, as they deterred people from putting their home on the market just to test the water.

There is also little evidence the packs benefited consumers, 91 per cent of estate agents saying they thought house hunters paid little or no attention to them.

But the move to scrap the packs is not popular with everyone, especially those who trained as home inspectors and are likely to be made redundant.

The director general of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers, Mike Ockenden, said: "Over 3,000 jobs will go and 10,000 will be affected as a result of the suspension of Hips and 100m revenue will be lost to the Treasury in VAT."

Labour Shadow housing minister John Healey also criticised the decision.

He said: "The Tories have talked of little else but Hips over the past few years, and this announcement merely highlights the limits of their ambition and concern – pleasing estate agents rather than supporting first-time buyers."