HIPs legislation has been a shambles so far, according to a propertyfinder.com survey which embraced 842 estate agents.

Seventy per cent of estate agents think that the Home Information Packs have disrupted business, and 84 per cent of them want the legislation abolished altogether, say the findings.

Instead, the Government is doubling the number of properties caught by the rules.

Estate agents say that 51 per cent of sellers do not know they need a HIP when they instruct the agent to market their property. Furthermore, a fifth of this group of sellers are put off marketing their property because of the extra hassle and cost involved.

This move is going to impact upon the very people Housing Minister Yvette Cooper has pledged to help with affordable housing, it is claimed.

The people who live in one and two-bedroom homes and are on lower incomes will be deterred by the extra £350 cost of a HIP (average cost across all agents surveyed).

The cost varies very little according to the size of the property so is a disproportionately large expense for smaller, less valuable homes. This is likely to constrain supply of first-time buyer property.

Forty-two per cent of buyers do not know what a HIP is and don't find the information contained useful, while a further 51 per cent know what a HIP is but don't rely on it.

That is a massive 93 per cent of buyers who find a HIP unhelpful – sellers are effectively paying £350 for nothing.

Warren Bright, chief executive of propertyfinder.com said: "Estate agents across the country can see HIPs are simply not delivering and want them abolished.

"Sellers don't know what they are and buyers ignore them. Now this discredited scheme is being extended to all properties, the confusion will only deepen.

"For the Government to be heaping new burdens on the property market at a time when it is already feeling some strain is beyond belief.

"The Government should leave the housing market alone, not tie it up in red tape."