Government plans to force homesellers to provide potential buyers with Home Information Packs (HIPs) are "ridiculous", the head of a leading industry body said today.

The Building Societies Association (BSA) is calling for the packs, which will cost home sellers as much as £1,000 each, to be made voluntary when they are introduced in June next year.

Home Information Packs (HIPs), sometimes described as sellers' packs, are intended to provide prospective buyers with all the basic information they need about a property before they buy. They will become compulsory in England and Wales from June 2007.

Society chief executives say that HIPs will be costly and will not achieve the Government's objectives to reassure buyers or speed up housing transactions. They also gave warning that the packs could create a sudden drop in the number of properties for sale.

Adrian Coles, director general of the BSA, said at the Association's annual conference in Manchester: "People's homes represent their most important asset. As such it is imperative that they can have confidence that there will not be any unexpected fluctuations in the market.

"It is ridiculous that someone selling their home without a HIP will be punished by a fine. If people feel that HIPS will be of benefit, they will opt to have one without the need for compulsion."

Building societies argue that making HIPs voluntary would allow market forces to determine demand and supply, enable buyers and sellers to fully acquaint themselves with the new system, and minimise the economic impact when they are introduced.

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