ESTATE agents will need to charge more for their service when Home Information Packs are added to their workload, warned the president of the National Association of Estate Agents this week.

Christopher Hall reckons agents' fees will rise above two per cent "and probably approaching three per cent " when the law is changed in June 2007 and all the technical details about a house have to be bundled together in an information pack in advance of the sales launch ready to be viewed by prospective buyers.

The pack will be given a dry run in some areas of the country this year but government ministers emphasise that it won't be a pilot scheme because the new system is going to be introduced whether the dry run is a success or a failure, as many agents believe it will be. Like it or not, insists John Prescott, this is how the government has pledged to reform the house selling process.

The association chief says the pack is likely to cost sellers between £650 and £1,000.

He said: "I am very much in favour of improving the house buying and selling process but I do not believe a mandatory HIP is the automatic or necessary answer.

"It is likely to cause delays in marketing, much waste and a host of other problems," he added.

The president believes his members will be forced to increase their commission rates to compensate for the extra work.

He told the Times: "Clearly it will add to their responsibilities. That in itself is not a bad thing because it will improve the public's perception of the estate agent's service.

"People considering putting their house on the market will call into an agent's office to ask a professional how to go about it.

"Nine times out of ten, even now, vendors get on the phone to their agent to inquire about something which is really a matter for their solicitor to answer. That will happen all the more when the packs are introduced."

As for house prices, he forecasts that present values will double in the next ten to 15 years although gentle rises of around between two to five per cent a year in line with inflation or wage increases will be the pattern for the immediate future.