Kent estate agents are calling for the immediate scrapping of controversial home information packs after a report said they were making the house price slump worse.

John Oakley, chairman of the National Association of Estate Agents in East Kent said the current packs, introduced just over a year ago, were "not fit for purpose".

He said: "They are a total waste of time, buyers aren't interested in them and solicitors aren't interested in them. With the property market as it is at the moment, vendors do not want to spend an average of £300 for these before they put a house on the market.

"The intention is that HIPS should speed the market up, which they don't, they slow it down. They were intended to give buyers information, but estate agents are finding they aren't interested. If you like a house you base it on what you see, the fact that it is not insulated adequately is unlikely to change your mind.

"These packs should be scrapped, preferably as soon as possible."

With house sales down more than half since last year, Mr Oakley said the HIP requirement to carry out local searches, for future development which could affect a property, was becoming particularly impractical and expensive.

"Vendors are finding searches are out of date long before houses are sold so they have to repeat them at extra cost," he said.

The comments by Mr Oakley, an independent property consultant, came as a nationwide report by the NAEA called on the government to help the property market by taking action on HIPs.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, said: “With the economic situation worsening and the property market still suffering, we are calling on the government to take urgent action on HIPs.

“We have long seen HIPs as not fit for purpose and as the wrong answer to simplifying the house buying process. Quite simply, the government tried to force ‘square pegs into round holes’ and the slower property market is making this situation worse.

"For instance, the current call for local searches to be conducted as part of a HIP is madness. Due to the length of time properties are on the market in the current climate, a majority of searches are now out of date by the time the property is sold, which means they have to be repeated at extra cost to the consumer.

“The time has come to rectify the situation and come up with a system that works cohesively and efficiently for both buyers and sellers. If HIPs are going to continue, then we, along with other major stakeholders would like to see them including only information that is of some use.

"Perhaps a simplified pack could include; a sellers’ questionnaire, an Energy Performance Certificate also reviewed to be fit for purpose, and the Land Registry title and plan.

"This is the only information that is helpful for consumers and the industry as a whole. In times of economic hardship, let’s stop this ridiculous repeating of information and shameful waste of consumers’ money!”

HIPs were introduced in a bid to speed up home buying by providing more of the information that buyers need in advance of a purchase.