I was heartened to learn at a recent continuing professional development lecture that the start date for home information packs (HIPs) may well be delayed, as apparently there will not be enough home inspectors to do the reports by then.

I imagine this might be caused by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors having taken umbrage, not surprisingly, that their members have to re-qualify as inspectors to do the job they have done for decades, if not centuries. How insulting. Imagine if solicitors had to qualify as licensed conveyancers to do conveyancing work.


The government has made a mistake by meddling in the conveyancing process this way and trying to justify it by saying it is for consumer protection. I cannot see how a buyer is going to have more protection since the same processes will be done but in a different order. None of my clients has complained to me about lack of protection.


It will also be impractical. My chief criticism concerns the reports having to be prepared before the property can be marketed and paid for by the seller. Many sellers rely on their mortgage funds to finance their costs and they are not paid until the end of the transaction.


Furthermore, the ethos of these reports is all wrong. Surveys, reports, whatever you call them, should be a critical appraisal of the home so the surveyor and seller should be at arm's length and not professional and client. It is rather like making defence counsel cross-examine his own witness.


The government should scrap the legislation. Another fiasco like stamp duty land tax ought to be avoided.


Rodney Goodson, Norwich