BANBURY MP Tony Baldry is demanding the Government drop plans he claims could push up the cost of house selling.

From June 2007, homeowners wanting to sell will have to buy a Home Information Pack before putting their house on the market.

The cost of a pack has been estimated at between £500 and £1,000, plus VAT.

The packs, which will provide information for buyers, have been described by Mr Baldry as a "roadblock to house sales".

He said: "The packs are widely opposed by estate agents and solicitors, who believe they will stagnate the housing market and fail to address gazumping.

"The housing market is already tough in north Oxfordshire. The cost of moving up the housing ladder is already high, especially for couples with growing families trying to buy their next home.

"Sellers' packs simply add another roadblock to house selling. No-one will be able to stick a 'for sale' board in their front garden unless they have already paid for a glossy information pack beforehand. The price could be a staggering £1,000 plus VAT and every house on the market will have to have one.

"The Government claims that sellers packs will speed up house sales, but virtually all estate agents disagree."

Keith Woolley, of King and Woolley estate agents in Banbury, said: "We are wholeheartedly against the packs. They will not speed up the house selling process, could push up house prices, and will introduce another cost into the equation.

"Many homes come on the market because owners see a house they want to buy. They want to sell quickly in order to buy the new property. But it will be illegal to market their existing house until a sellers' pack is ready, and that could take two weeks. By then, their intended purchase could have gone.

"The up-front costs of the pack could mean fewer houses on the market, and this could push up prices which will not help first time buyers. Sellers' packs will not achieve anything apart from adding another cost element.

"There is also a privacy issue in that anyone will be able to see details on someone else's home."

The campaign against sellers packs won support from TV property stars Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer, who said they would fail to significantly to improve the property market.

But housing minister Yvette Cooper defended them and said the critics were being driven by "vested interests".

Brian Powell, of Stanbra Powell, said the housing selling system needed an overhaul, and that he was open-minded on sellers' packs.

He said: "The system is woefully inadequate at the moment, and perhaps the new proposals do not go far enough.

"The packs will put sellers' paperwork in order but there will be no check on potential buyers and therefore chains will continue to break down.

"We are not sure how the cost will work out, and think that £500 plus VAT is realistic."

Robert Moore, of Ankers, said: "Some aspects of the sellers' pack are not bad, but there will inevitably be a slow-down in the market, and perhaps a flood of properties on the market earlier in the year to beat the June deadline.

"There might not be enough experienced surveyors to operate the new system, and existing surveyors will have to requalify."

Splinta, a group of more than 1,000 estate agents who are campaigning against sellers' packs, says: "The only people who will benefit from these packs are the companies that will make fortunes compiling them and the Government who will get millions of pounds each year in extra VAT revenue."