The government says home information packs (HIPs) will cut the number of house sales that fall through. Doubters fear they could lead to a council tax revaluation by stealth. Emily Dennis gauges the mood about the legislation, which starts coming into force from tomorrow...

It has taken years to get off the ground, but tomorrow finally sees the introduction of the government's home information packs (HIPs).

From then, all homes put up for sale in England and Wales with four or more bedrooms must have one of the packs, containing a wealth of information including title deeds and an energy performance certificate.

When plans for legislation to bring in the packs were included in the Queen's Speech in 2003, the government said they would help create a fairer housing market and protect the most vulnerable.

Fast forward to this year and a more complex picture emerges as home- owners and surveyors battle to get their heads around the impact HIPs will have.

The packs, which also include council searches and a survey, come into force after a two-month delay and a watering- down of their content. They aim to speed up the home-buying process by giving people more information on a property before they put in an offer.

But yesterday the Tories claimed the packs would create a huge property database that would be used for a stealthy revaluation of council tax - and a consequent rise in bills.

Shadow local government and communities secretary Eric Pickles said the database could hold detailed information on 20 million homes by 2014, and he predicted that prime minister Gordon Brown would use the data to “fill his coffers and hike up property taxes even more”.

He said the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) had made an explicit bid to access the database and, given that existing legislation allowed ministers to use it for “any public purpose”, granting this would be a mere formality.

That claim has been categorically denied by the Department for Communities and Local Government. A spokesman said: “Time and time again we have made it clear the VOA will not have access to this register. We have even set it out in the law so there can be no doubt.”

The scheme has been the subject of controversy since first mooted in Labour's 1997 election manifesto. And, last May, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) took the unprecedented step of announcing it would seek a judicial review to protect the public's property interests ahead of a Commons debate on the issue.

At the time, Jeremy Leaf from the institution said the packs would make it more expensive and harder for people to put their homes on the market, as well as being less “green” than they could be.

Some critics insist customers would not trust a survey commissioned by the person selling. Others claim the packs simply add to the cost of selling a home.

The packs will include the new energy performance certificate (EPC), which will give information on reducing energy consumption and making homes more environmentally-friendly. They will be extended to smaller properties when more energy assessors have become qualified.

Yesterday, Antony Bromley-Martin, a partner and chartered surveyor at Strutt & Parker in Norwich, described the scheme as a “sneaky way for the government to increase council tax”.

He added: “The scheme is a complete ruse and will slow the market down rather than speed it up. It is totally unnecessary in my view and will cause more problems than it will solve. Every single energy efficiency certificate that is issued will go to the local council, and they will set the council tax on these certificates, which are fundamentally flawed. If your house is a listed building, then any recommendations that the report makes in order to make it more energy-efficient will probably be a criminal offence because if it is listed, for example, double glazing will not be allowed.

“There is an enormous amount of confusion over this. It's more red tape and bureaucracy that we will have to go through. For the voting public there is no winner at all. There is a cost to the home-owner, a cost and a nuisance to the agent and a slowing down of the conveyancing process.”

But Louis de Soissons, of Savills in Norwich, urged people to “embrace them and get on with it”. He explained: “In our market we normally advise our clients to get all legal documentation prepared in advance of a sale, so this element will not be a lot different.

“In terms of the energy efficiency certificate, most of the houses we sell will be in the bottom tier and it will not make any difference at all. With period buildings and houses, the advice is that they shouldn't be insulated and should be allowed to breathe.”

He added: “There are costs involved, so this will be another bureaucratic cost for people to deal with when they are selling a house. But it is a legal requirement and we will just have to get on with it.

“In a year, people will probably wonder what all the fuss was about.”

HIPs FACTFILE

Home information packs must include:

t An index, with a checklist of documents that must be included in the pack.

t An energy performance certificate: a detailed examination of your home's energy efficiency and environmental impact on a scale of A to G, with the most efficient homes being rated A. Includes advice on how to improve your home's energy efficiency. The average property in the UK is in bands D to E for both ratings.

t A sale statement providing basic information about the site, including the address of the property being sold, whether the property is freehold, leasehold or commonhold, whether the property is registered or unregistered and whether it is being sold with vacant possession.

t Standard searches, including Land Registry searches and other records held by the council on issues that may interest buyers, such as planning decisions and roadbuilding proposals.

t Evidence of title: documents which prove the seller owns the property and has the right to sell it.

t Additional Documents. For leasehold properties there must be a copy of the lease and any amendments to the lease and rules that apply to the property but are not mentioned in the lease. There must also be a summary of service charges for the past 36 months and the most recent requests for payment of service charges, ground rent and buildings insurance, plus the name and address of the leaseholder and details of a managing agent, as well as a summary of any work being done. Similar details required for commonhold properties.

t Optional documents: sellers may also want to include a report on the physical condition of the property, a summary of the legal contents of the pack, information on boundaries, planning consent and anything else that might interest the buyer; also, non-standard searches, such as a mining search in coalmining areas.