FIVE thousand people have signed an e-petition against controversial home information packs on trial in Huddersfield and five other towns.

The shake-up in the marketing rules means vendors must have a pack costing about £500 before putting their property up for sale.

The packs, known as HIPs, are free before their intended national launch in June.

The National Association of Estate Agents warned that despite a consultation document published by the Department for Communities and Local Government, which began to address some of the issues surrounding the HIPs, not enough has been done to allay protesters' concerns.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, said: "We were pleased to see the Government begin to take some of the issues we have raised over HIPs seriously in its latest consultation document.

"The fact remains, however, that there are still a number of fundamental flaws with the HIP plans.

"The lack of ability to market a property without an HIP will have a major impact on the property market, despite the Government's recent concessions.

"The voluntary nature of the home condition report will create an uneven playing field. Sellers are unlikely to want to spend the extra few hundred pounds on a report if they do not have to.

"For those who do, there is still not significant evidence that the report will be a benefit in real market conditions.

"The energy performance certificate is the only part of the Pack that will actually add value and could in fact easily be dealt with outside of HIPs.

"These are just some of the major issues facing the government over home information packs. We hope that they will see sense and go back to the drawing board."

The Government has announced another consultation and agreed to cut down the number of documents required before marketing can begin.

However, sellers will still not be allowed to put their property on the market until these documents are complete, or until 14 days have passed.

Trevor Kent, former president of the National Association of Estate Agents said: "The Government has now realised that parts of the HIP are rotten to the core and cannot be implemented, such as the cost and delay in obtaining searches and leasehold information from landlords who are holding home owners to ransom for the information needed for HIPs."

Mr Kent called for support for a petition to go to No 10 Downing Street highlighting the fact that the imminent introduction of new laws to control how and when a home can be put on the market is "an infringement of civil liberties".