£1,000 logbook to sell homes

HOMEOWNERS are to be forced to spend up to £1,000 on information packs about their properties for prospective buyers.

The measures, announced on Monday, will legally oblige vendors to provide a 'seller's logbook' before they can put their homes on the market.

Essentially, a new law will shift the responsibility for information gathering from buyer to seller.

The packs will have to include details about a property's structural condition, its title and deeds, and local authority records such as planning consent.

A compulsory 'home condition report', included in the pack, will be broadly similar to a structural survey, but less detailed.

It will involve an 'MOT' of the property but will not assess value, meaning that a valuation inspection - which lenders usually require before granting mortgages - will still be necessary.

On average, the seller's packs are expected to cost £600, rising to £1,000 in London, the South-East and other property hotspots.

The home condition report will account for about half the cost - the rest will go on providing the legal information.

And the person marketing the property is expected to be legally responsible for a pack's contents. In most cases, this means the estate agent, though people who sell their own houses could find themselves in hot water if details are misleading or out of date.

Seller's packs have long been favoured by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott who wants to speed up the sale of homes in Britain, seen as among the slowest in Europe and fraught with delays and failed transactions.

But previous attempts to introduce the packs have failed to become law after running out of time in Parliament.

The new measures, included in the Government's Housing Bill, could come into force by 2005. The proposals have been made in the face of fierce opposition from the property industry.

Estate agents fear vendors, lumbered-with unnecessary extra costs, will have to wait three weeks on average before getting the go-ahead to try to sell their homes.

Melfyn Williams, president of the National Association of Estate Agents, said: 'Whatever way you look at it, it's going to increase the cost to the British homeowner. It will just mean extra red tape and extra work. It could be three weeks before you are even allowed to tell anybody your home is going to be on the market.'

There were also doubts about whether there would be enough surveyors to complete the 'home inspections' required. They will have to be retrained, Williams warned. 'The Government is saying that they may delay this aspect of the packs, which is not surprising when you consider that at the moment there are no home inspectors,' he said. 'It will require new training and new standards and they haven't got the people in place to do it.'

Another criticism is that the seller's packs could swiftly be outdated if a property stays on the market too long.

But the Consumers' Association welcomed the move, urging their introduction without delay. Spokeswoman Emma Harrison said: 'Once these packs are introduced consumers will be able to make more informed decisions when deciding whether to make an offer on a property.

'The packs should also take some of the heartache out of buying by helping prevent failed transactions, often caused by poor survey results and legal issues.'

Liberal Democrat spokesman Edward Davey said: 'Red tape and bureaucracy in house purchasing need to be radically reduced. These packs will make it more expensive to sell a property.'