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Home packs delayed
Daily Telegraph - 13 January
2004
HOME sellers have been granted a temporary reprieve from being
required by law to provide potential buyers with "home information
packs", which could cost up to pounds 800.
The Government is proposing to make it a legal requirement
to make the packs available to purchasers.
The packs will include local searches and a home condition report, including
an energy efficiency assessment.
They are designed to try to speed the house buying process in England
and Wales.
Keith Hill, the housing minister, told MPs last night the
packs would be phased in to meet concerns about the readiness of the housing
industry to provide them.
Opening the second reading debate on the Housing Bill, he
said the packs would be brought in only when "we're fully satisfied
that all the conditions are in place to make this a success".
That included sufficient trained home inspectors and satisfactory
insurance arrangements.
David Curry, the Conservative housing spokesman, condemned
plans to introduce the packs as "unnecessary, obstructive, ill-conceived
and burdensome" but welcomed other parts of the Bill.
The Tories say the packs are likely to cost more than the
Government estimate of pounds 350. Estate agents have put the cost at
pounds 600- pounds 1,000.
© Daily Telegraph
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