The UK Government has announced the suspension of Home Information Packs with immediate effect from 21 May 2010.

Homes marketed for sale on or after 21 May 2010 will no longer require a Home Information Pack (HIP). The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), showing how energy efficient a property is, will be retained.

This news has been welcomed by the property industry, which has long called for an end to the packs, saying that they failed to help home buyers and discouraged people from putting their property on the market.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents, said 'The suspension of HIPs is very welcome news. It will be greeted enthusiastically by both the housing market and house buyers, few of whom have paid much attention to these pointless packs.'

Gillian Charlesworth, spokeswoman for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said 'RICS is pleased that one of the first acts of the new Government has been to clearly show their intention to abolish HIPs'.