Will the packs make the buying and selling process easier?

The introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs) in England and Wales is important not just for home sellers, but also for the 7,000 people who have been trained to assess them.

Some have abandoned long-established jobs for what they hope will be a lucrative career in a guaranteed profession.

But after training that lasts up to a year and costs as much as �11,000, not to mention two years of policy confusion, many now find themselves waiting by their phones to see if the gamble has paid off.

One of them is Olive Coleman, 50, a former IT worker in the financial services industry.

Self-employed

She is anxiously checking her e-mail inbox and waiting for the phone to ring, but has yet to receive a call.

Most assessors will either be self-employed, and like Mrs Coleman have to generate their own work, or will sign contracts with umbrella HIP providers who will mediate between assessors, estate agents and home sellers.

There was plenty of talk about the potential to make plenty of money, but there were no guarantees Olive Coleman Trained home assessor D-day for information packs

Some will also work for estate agents, conveyancing firms or solicitors.

Mrs Coleman, from west London, first started training as a home inspector, which is more expensive than training as a domestic energy assessor (DEA).

But she began to focus more on DEA training after the government ruled home condition reports, which only home inspectors are qualified to provide, would not be a compulsory part of HIPs.

Waiting game

When the commissions do start to come in, she will visit peoples' homes to produce the energy performance certificates that will be included in HIPs for potential buyers.

The certificate takes into consideration everything from insulation to roof construction, to enable an energy efficiency score from A to G to be allocated - with A being the most efficient.

She says she went into the profession with her eyes open.

With HIPs, the rules kept changing, so nobody really knows where they stand, so it has become a grotesque example of what it should have been Marc Lewis Property developer Q&A: Home information packs

"There was plenty of talk about the potential to make plenty of money, but there were no guarantees," she said.

Nonetheless, there is only so long she will be able to wait.

"If the work doesn't come in, then I will really have to re-think whether I can stick with this," she said.

"I can afford to wait another month or so but there are an awful lot of people who gave up their jobs in June (when the packs were initially due to come in) and aren't in that position."

According to a spokesman from the Association of HIP Providers, it is uncertain what the going rate for a DEA will be, but he expects them to earn in the region of �25,000 per year.

This is substantially less then the predicted incomes touted on websites offering training.

Changing rules

Marc Lewis, 39, a property developer also from west London, is frustrated at the mixed messages that have faced assessors. He also is yet to receive his first instruction.

"There's been a very bad national campaign about the whole thing," he said.

"What the government did is put the law in place, but [said] 'we're not really going to give you any direction, we're going to let the market sort it all out'.

"With HIPs, the rules kept changing, so nobody really knows where they stand, so it has become a grotesque example of what it should have been."

It's a leap of faith. At the outset you have this picture in front of you, you commit yourself, and then the picture changes Mike Mathews Trained home assessor

Mr Lewis planned to jump headfirst into the new market, and had plans in place to run a team of 10 assessors. Now he is not so sure.

"We were certainly prepared to drop everything, but we have gone from a proactive company to a reactive company. A lot of people are sitting back and saying 'let's see what happens'."

One couple from Bristol, however, are just relieved that after all their training the HIPs have finally been introduced.

Mike Mathews said: "It's a leap of faith. At the outset you have this picture in front of you, you commit yourself, and then the picture changes, and there's this fear I think that it may all fizzle out."

His wife Alison agreed: "I think people who have gone through the training are thinking, we've paid out all this money, and it all looks uncertain."

It cost them �6,000 each to train, plus another �2,000 each on books and equipment.

But they are confident their investment will payout.