ESTATE agents have welcomed the scrapping of home information packs (HIPs), saying the decision will provide a major boost to the housing market in York and North and East Yorkshire.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles suspended HIPs yesterday, pending primary legislation for their permanent abolition.

The move means homeowners will no longer need to spend money providing one of the packs before they can put their property up for sale.

But sellers will still be required to get an energy performance certificate, showing how energy efficient a property is, within 28 days of putting their home on the market.

The property industry has long argued HIPs failed to help home buyers and discouraged people from putting their property on the market. Kevin Hollinrake, of Hunters estate agents, said HIPs had provided a bureaucratic deterrent to people putting their homes up for sale to test the market, because they had had to pay £350 to £400 to get a Hip for their property.

He said the market had quietened down in recent weeks as homeowners delayed selling their homes in the hope HIPs would be scrapped under the new coalition government, and he expected the decision would lead to many properties now being put on the market.

Hazel Smith, a partner with Quantum, in Walmgate, said: “It’s a great boost for the York market, which has already been picking up this year.”

She also expected many extra properties to be put on the market in York as a result.

“We have already had several calls from people wanting to put their homes on the market, who have been holding off waiting for this announcement.”

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has hailed the move. Spokeswoman Gillian Charlesworth said “HIPs have failed to address the significant problems in the home buying process they were originally supposed to tackle.”