The Government yesterday announced that new information packs aimed at speeding up the process of buying a home will be included in its draft Housing Bill.

The home information packs, formally called seller's packs, will provide buyers with key information on a property in a bid to shorten the time taken to buy a house and reduce the number of sales that fall through.

When the Bill comes into force, anyone selling a property in England and Wales will have to put together one of the packs before putting their home on the market.

The Government is still consulting on exactly what the packs will contain but it is proposing they should include the deeds, Land Registry and local authority searches, and a survey of the property known as a home condition report.

It estimates the packs will cost between £300 and £500 to put together, although it added that in countries that already had the system, mortgage lenders often covered the cost as part of a mortgage deal.

The Government is also consulting on how the packs will work in areas where property is of low value and there is little demand.

Housing Minister Jeff Rooker said: "The present homebuying and selling process gives consumers a raw deal.

"We have a ridiculous situation where key information needed by buyers and sellers is not available until after terms have been negotiated and agreed.

"We are going to put this right by ensuring that this key information is available at the start of the transaction process in the home information pack."

However, the Government has decided the penalty for not supplying one of the packs will be civil, such as a fine, rather than criminal, as previously proposed.

The consultation period will end this summer and the Government hopes the Housing Bill will come into force at the end of 2004 or early 2005.

The Bill also includes measures to improve the standards of houses with a number of different tenants living in them, such as student houses, and address the impact bad tenants or landlords can have on local communities.