Home Information Pack Regulations 2007

My Lords, I do not wish to say much. I am sure that we will have another debate. I wish to make two points, particularly in response to the noble Lord, Lord Graham. He referred twice to the £1 million a day wasted on home transactions. We all agree with that. He and others do not seem to understand that home information packs will not save money but are likely to add yet another £1 million to the costs of selling homes. We estimate that some 600,000 sales are aborted each year, and that will not be prevented by home information packs. If the packs cost around £600 a piece, that represents around an additional £390 million on the cost of selling houses, an extra £1 million a day. Anyone who claims that they will save £1 million aday is talking rubbish; that is why we are againstthem. Given the need for affordable homes, the extra £1 million a day is unacceptable. As my noble friend Lady Hanham and the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, said, we are all for the energy element of this legislation, particularly as regardsthe European directive—the House is unanimous on that—but we are against home information packs. They are a total waste of time and we need something different if we are to help the people of this country.