Opposition politicians and industry groups have warned that Home Information Packs (HIPs) will create an army of unregulated army of pack providers who could exploit buyers and sellers. Sarah Teather, the local government spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: “Most buyers will simply not trust the report of a home inspector paid by the seller and will end up paying for their own survey.” Caroline Spelman the shadow secretary of state for local government said HIPs would not prevent gazumping or speed up the buying of a home. “Labour’s sellers’ packs will simply put up the cost of selling a home, create more red tape and ultimately undermine a fragile housing market.” According to The Times newspaper the government has decided to press ahead with a medium-level home condition survey. The survey, costing £350, goes into greater depth than the current valuation carried out by a mortgage lender, but is not as thorough as the homebuyers survey and valuation or a full building survey. The packs, costing £1,000, are set to be implemented in 2007 and some fear this will lead to a glut of houses for sale before 2007 followed by a scarcity of property after the policy comes …