THE estate agent chosen to trial the government's Home Information Packs claims the high percentage of sales that currently fall apart will be slashed to single figures once the legislation to revolutionise the transaction process is law.

From June 1, 2007 it will be illegal to put a house or flat on the market unless the seller can produce a logbook containing everything a buyer has a right to know about the property, including an opinion of its structural condition prepared by one of the government's new breed of home condition report inspectors.

Industry opponents of the scheme claim the red tape and added expense it could be as much as £1,000 for properties in the London area will put people off moving.

But in an exclusive interview with the Times, Bristol-based agent Maria Coleman says she has issued more than 900 packs since she started, offering her own version of the government's new HIP in 1996. In her experience, sellers' packs do the business.

According to her, 61 per cent of the sales agreed across the country fail to run the distance under the present system 28 per cent because the properties are withdrawn from the market and 33 per cent because sales fall through.

She believes the percentage of sales that fail to make it to completion can be reduced to five per cent after 2007. Currently most agents work on the basis of no-sale no-fee, leaving the firm to absorb the cost of the drop outs.

The agent explained: "A fall through is a sale falling through after an offer has been agreed and accepted by a seller and put in the hands of the lawyers, then some six to eight weeks down the line after both sides have incurred legal and survey costs, one party pulls out. No wonder the house selling and buying process is described as stressful.

"If one looks at it logically in any business plan, it is not rocket science to see that serious sellers and buyers are paying the price to compensate for the people who take their homes off the market or the sales that fall through.

"When I started doing HIPs some ten years ago my average house price was £75,000 very different from today. The houses were mainly Victorian terraced and three bedroom 1930s semis.

"To sell 160 houses a year, I had to take on 300. Why? If I took on 300 houses, 28 per cent of owners 84 would be likely to withdraw their homes, leaving me with 216 houses to sell. Out of those, a further 26 per cent of sales would fall through 56 and that would leave me with 160 that would go the distance. For my calculations, I worked out that each of the 300 houses I had originally been instructed to sell would cost me an average of £847 to market for ten weeks £254,100.

"My earnings for each sale of a £75,000 house based on two-and-a half per cent commission would be £1,687.50, giving me a profit over expenditure of £15,900.

"If I wanted to be more competitive and reduce my commission to 1.5 per cent, my fee for selling a £75,000 house would be £1,125, however I would end the year having made a loss of £74,000."

By persuading sellers to pay money upfront for an information pack about their property, Maria maintains she can eliminate the time wasters and reduce the number of instructions needed to make a healthy profit each year to 216.

"Marketing costs remain the same but the number of homes withdrawn from the market have been as low as three per cent, fall throughs have dropped to two per cent and instead of a success rate of 160 out of 300 as was the case in 1996, our latest figures showed that 205 out of 216 instructions proceeded to completion."

She added: "The serious seller has not had to pay higher agency fees to compensate for those sellers who withdraw or sales that fall through. The consumer has paid less in fees and the agent has made a sensible profit."

Selling the good' book

THE new company set up by Maria Coleman has been chosen by the Government to give Home Information Packs a dry run to iron out the wrinkles before the law is changed.

The changes will mean a home pack will be provided to homebuyers with the full low-down on a property as soon as it comes on the market.

OpenBook, launched this month, is hoping to recruit agents, surveyors and solicitors across the country to peddle the virtues of the pack to clients.

Maria told the Times: "Currently only 20 per cent of buyers have anything more than a lender's valuation. Now 100 per cent will have the benefit of a level 2 survey.

"The seller will not have to come down by £10,000 for a £1,000 job and the buyer can make an informed decision when putting in an offer because they have a detailed survey and have had any urgent repairs identified for them no nasty surprises eight weeks down the line.

"Our company has included a withdrawal insurance policy to cover sellers who have to pull out for a serious reason for example, loss of their job, terminal illness of a member of their family, not simply changed my mind'.

"We aim to recruit locally based solicitors, estate agents and surveyors who will all have access to a secure website so they can be kept up to date with progress of the transaction and there can be no hidden agendas."

This week she still had to sign up professionals to run the system in West London.