A DELAY of several months looks likely on the "dry run" tests promised in selected areas of England and Wales to test new Home Information Packs which become a compulsory part of the home buying process in exactly a year's time.

Although Housing Minister Yvette Cooper has confirmed the projects will go ahead, barely 200 Home Inspectors are so far qualified, and official regulations are unlikely to be in place to grant them necessary licences much before autumn.

With HIPs expected to cost all vendors at least £600 and possibly £1,000-plus before they can legally put their homes on sale, Commons clashes are becoming fiercer as the Tories promise to scrap HIPs if they gain power.

Enthusiastically backed by Government, HIPs must be compiled by every vendor after June 1, 2007, with a house condition report telling buyers of defects in the property before they make an offer.

The theory is that meaningful haggling will be brought further forward in the purchasing process, enabling a faster exchange of contracts to cut, but not remove, the risk of gazumping.

Estate agents are divided on HIPs. Said Charles Smailes, president of the National Association of Estate Agents: "There is no doubt that making information available about a property up front to a potential buyer is a good thing.

"In reality, however, HIPs will be long documents holding around 100 pages of complex, technical information presently translated by solicitors during the sale process. This level of information is not required at the beginning of a transaction."

The new edition of the Which? Guide to Buy, Sell and Move House, a bible for buyers over three decades, claims HIPs will make buying property easier and avoid £350 million annual losses - nearly £1 million a day - which it says buyers currently suffer from abortive purchases.

But critics of HIPS point out that millions more could also be wasted when vendors fail to find a buyer after compiling a HIP, or have to pay for a second HIP when a home stays on sale for a long time.

But what about the general public? The latest research shows that not many people have much ideal about the scheme, indeed a survey from the Property Investor and Homebuyer Show North in Manchester earlier this month found only a third of people realise vendors have to pay for HIPs.

Although Parliament has given the nod to HIPs, this story still has some way to go.