The proposed home information pack (HIP) questionnaire has been branded a ‘crude attempt’ to help non-solicitor pack providers and push solicitors out of the conveyancing market.

A year after the introduction of the controversial packs, the government has launched a consultation to add an extra document in which sellers provide more information about their property, including any building work carried out, energy and utilities information, parking arrangements and council tax banding.

The consultation document, published last week, suggests this can be done ‘without professional assistance’.

Law Society President Paul Marsh said the forms were unnecessary, but if they were introduced sellers should not fill them in without legal advice.

He said: ‘The consultation is a crude attempt by the government to help out non-solicitor HIP providers who are struggling because of the drop in the property market. They are trying to make the packs fuller so people can justify the cost.’

He called on the government to enter into an honest and open dialogue with the profession on its plans for HIPs.

Michael Garson, chairman of the executive committee of the Law Society’s property section, said it was a clear attempt to push solicitors out of the market. ‘This is not a cure for the problem,’ he said. ‘It’s a sticking plaster of the poorest variety.’

However, the Department for Communities and Local Government said the new questionnaire is not intended to replace the work of conveyancers, who would still be required as transactions were finalised.

Meanwhile, a survey of 420 estate agents and solicitors, ­carried out by campaign group SPLINTA (Sellers’ Pack Law Is Not The Answer) showed 98% of respondents said HIPs made no difference to the speed of sales and even slowed them down.

Nick Salmon, head of SPLINTA, said HIPs must be scrapped to save consumers wasting more money and to stimulate sales at a time when the property market is in its worst state of collapse since the end of World War Two.