Guarded reaction to house sale planCONVEYANCING: Claims that 'preparation of documentation by the seller is a means of speeding up the home-buying process'Government proposals to introduce sellers' packs into domestic conveyancing have met with a mixed response from the profession.

Housing minister Nick Raynsford said last week that compulsory sellers' packs - including copy title deeds, searches and a home condition survey - could become law by January 2003; this follows a pilot scheme in Bristol.

The Law Society urged the government to reconsider including surveys commissioned by the seller in the packs.

Deputy Vice-President Carolyn Kirby said the surveys were unnecessary, would cause needless expense, and would not be relied upon by buyers or mortgage lenders.

The sellers' packs were however a 'step in the right direction', she said, adding: 'The early preparation of documentation by the seller is a means of speeding up the homebuying process, and could give earlier certainty that a sale will go through.' Michael King, chairman of the Law Society's conveyancing and land law committee, added: 'The proposed seller's pack, as it stands, does not take the potential impact of electronic services into account.

NLIS [the National Land Information Service] could totally transform the face of conveyancing in this country, with searches being available at the touch of a mouse.' David Brown, a partner at Bristol-based firm Abbey Law - who has been involved in the Bristol pilot from the beginning - said the sellers' packs should include surveys executed by independently accredited panels.

This way buyers would be happier to use the surveys, he said.

Mr Brown added that the cost of the packs need not be a problem, as sellers would probably be able to recoup the cost of the survey from the buyer.

Brian Marson, chairman of Bromley firm Marsons, who has advised the government about the packs, is a staunch supporter.He said: 'Speedier conveyancing transactions linked to Land Registry Direct, creation of e-mail communication, Web site technology, the launch of NLIS, and the whole way in which the world is speeding up, means that it is an intolerable suggestion that the legal profession cannot get to grips with this initiative, support it, and develop it for the benefit of clients and the members of the professions combined.'See Editorial, page 16Jeremy Fleming