Tory death knell for HIPs
The Tories have signalled plans to axe Home Information Packs if they are voted into power - a decision that looks set to prove popular with homeowners and estate agents.
Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps has made it clear that the party did not propose to introduce an alternative and were in favour of scrapping the scheme altogether.
Nevertheless, the Conservatives still want to keep parts of the existing scheme under their proposals to make the buying and selling process easier.
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) would survive the cull, but the party would relax the rules by allowing homeowners to put their homes on the market before having an EPC in place, provided that they had commissioned one.
The Tories would also extend the shelf life of residential EPCs from three years to ten, bringing them in line with the corresponding certificate for rented properties.
The Labour government finally launched HIPs in 2008 as a way of reducing the number of house sales falling through and speeding up the homebuying process.
However, estate agents say that the certificates have had precisely the opposite effect by preventing sellers from putting their homes on the market until they had obtained a valid EPC.
They have also been blamed for the shortage of homes on the market, with many homeowners balking at the initial cost of putting their property up for sale.