The Law Society has called on the government to regulate the home information pack (HIP) industry to protect home buyers from secret referral fees paid to estate agents.

Following a claim by a Channel 4 News investigation that pack prices could be inflated by more than £100 to cover referral payments by pack providers to estate agents, Law Society president Paul Marsh urged home sellers to check the real cost of packs.

Marsh told the programme that secret commissions are ‘quite wrong’ and sellers should ask for details of exact costs to discover if the agent is charging them more than it should.

He said that the Law Society had told Yvette Cooper, housing minister at the time HIPS were introduced in 2007, that the change would create a billion-pound industry that needed to be properly regulated.

‘We believe the government should put in place effective regulation to make sure there is transparency throughout the system, so the public know what they're paying for, who’s getting what and that they are getting value for money,’ said Marsh.