Friday June 1st 2007 is the start of the Home Inspection Pack (or Seller's Pack) when all houses offered for sale from this date on - excluding those already on the market - must include a Pack. "Dry runs" are to be carried out this summer to see if they work.

Both major institutions have done a complete about face - RICS were initially against but are now for, while NAEA were for, but are now against! However, it will happen, whether we like it or not so agents and surveyors are preparing themselves for it.

What will be in the Pack? Well at the moment there will be such items as a search, energy report, copies of planning permissions, building regulations, guarantees and, crucially, a Home Condition Report (HCR). Obviously it is in the seller's interest to get all his "bits of paper" together at the start, but whether or not he will be able to find that Rentokil Guarantee he had eight years ago... well, his filing system had better be in order! How long it will take to get a search (including mining, drainage and perhaps even radon) is debatable: your solicitor should be able to do this electronically, but we will all remember the fiasco with some government computers (passport, CSA, farm payment subsidies etc) to feel a little sceptical!

Will the buyer believe a "survey" commissioned by the vendor? Will it be detailed enough? Will there be enough surveyors or Home Inspectors as they will be called? According to newspaper reports, many retired people are interested in becoming Inspectors, but what will their PII premiums be if they can be sued by sellers and purchasers? Will sellers want to fork out perhaps £1000 just to put their house on the market? Many sellers only offer their house for sale because they want to buy a certain house - will they take the risk of losing not only the house but also the cost of the pack? Will there therefore be fewer houses for sale and could this push up prices? Will agents carry the cost of the pack until the house is sold, but what if it isn't? Will they find it easy to get the money from the seller?

No-one really knows the answers to these questions but they will have to be answered before June '07 - watch this space, there is a lot more to come yet!

Written by Martin Boughton of The County Homesearch Company.