A KENT solicitor has hit out at the government’s plans to introduce sellers’ packs as a way of speeding up the house-buying process.

Stephen Tomlinson, senior partner and head of Gulland and Gulland’s residential conveyancing department at Maidstone, said: “It is just another example of government spin without any understanding of how the conveyancing system works.”

Under the proposals outlined in the Queen’s Speech, anyone selling their home would have to create a seller’s pack at an estimated cost of £700 for a house worth £100,000. The pack would contain, among other things, a survey on the property.

But Mr Tomlinson points out: “Who is going to accept a survey carried out on behalf of the person who is trying to sell the house? There could be an unconscious leaning towards the seller on the part of the surveyor as the seller is paying his bill.”

It will also mean that estate agents will not be able to put a house on the market until the seller’s pack has been completed.

Mr Tomlinson feels that although the solicitor will be involved in some of the inquiries that go to make up the evidence contained in the sellers’ packs, it will be incumbent upon the estate agent to arrange for the survey to be carried out before the house details can be circulated.

“This will take longer in itself, and another aspect is for how long will the sellers’ packs remain valid? Solicitors have to carry out searches which, in theory, are out of date the day after they are issued. I would have thought that any pack would need updating every three months at least.

“This would mean that if the seller has difficulty in selling immediately, he would have to pay for a new seller’s pack, and it could take months. Is this really as sensible as the government seems to think it is? Many people find it difficult to find that kind of sum until they have realised the profit on their house sale.”

He said that some kind of validation insurance might be offered so that if anything adverse occurred people would be able to claim on the insurance. But such policies would not be cheap and would merely add to the expense of moving home.

Mr Tomlinson’s concern was that lawyers operating within the government seemed not to understand how the conveyancing system works.