According to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), Home Information Packs (HIPs) are stopping people from putting their property up for sale, as 89% of its members believe the recent rule changes are not beneficial to buyers and 65% believe that the new arrangements will actually discourage sellers from putting their properties up for sale.

The NAEA wants the packs to be scrapped during the downturn and their viability examined before they are considered again.

Peter Bolton King of the NAEA said: “It is extremely worrying that the Government is pushing ahead with an ill-judged and unpopular scheme that, in the opinion of UK property professionals, will actually slow the market down.

“It reflects a stubbornness on the part of the Government and a reluctance to admit that HIPs in the main are pointless and expensive and according to their own figures, ignored by the very people they claim benefit from them.”

New changes to HIPs recently came into force and they now have to be complete before a property can be put on the market.