SPLINTA issupported by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association, the IndependentAssociation of Estate Agents and agents including Knight Frank and LurotBrand.

However, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors supports theintroduction of Home Information Packs which should enable prospectivebuyers to bid for properties with a knowledge of key facts about a property.The RICS gives its blessing to many of the government's reforms as itbelieves they will take some of the stress out of the house buying andselling process by speeding up transactions. The RICS adds, however, thatHome Information Packs will only work if the information to be included canbe assembled in a matter of days. A lot of progress still has to be made toensure the key data can be easily accessed, especially online.

The RICSsays that the inclusion of a report on the condition of the property is themost important part of the pack. Further work, including rigorous will beneeded to establish that the condition report meets the requirements ofbuyers, there will be sufficient qualified home inspectors in place tosatisfy the demand for such reports, and there will be no compromise ofexisting standards.

It is unlikely that legislation to introduce packscould come into force before 2006. Typical costs of packs are likely to bein the £500-£600 ($790-$950) range but this will vary according to the sizeof the property and the degree of local competition in the production ofpacks.