The HCR is intended to highlight any potential flaws in the property

The HCR is intended to highlight any potential flaws in the property.But critically, a property valuation is not required for the proposed packs.The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), the government department behind the plans, insists they won’t be needed. “Lenders are telling us that, in the majority of cases, they would use the HCR as the basis of their valuations – reducing the need for expensive on-site inspections,” says an ODPM spokeswoman.But the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the trade body, counters this, warning that many homebuyers won’t be able to rely on the HIP – and will still have to pay for a separate valuation to satisfy themselves and their lenders.”The HCR doesn’t contain a valuation or important information needed to determine a valuation, such as if the property is on a busy road,” says a CML spokesman.Separate inspections will still be required by lenders where they are advancing at least 80 per cent of the property’s price. Figures from the CML show that 40 per cent of all mortgages fall into this category – most notably among first-timer buyers.”Many people will also want to commission their own valuations or surveys before proceeding – which will make the packs partly redundant,” says Nick Gardner of broker Chase de Vere Mortgage Management.At its most basic, banks and building societies need to conduct valuations to give some assurance that they aren’t lending too much. “They want to ensure they will get their money back, and that if a borrower defaults on the mortgage, [they] will be able to sell the property and recoup their losses that way,” says Melanie Bien of broker Savills Private Finance.The CML believes that, at least initially, the HIP and HCR will not be enough for this purpose.Elsewhere, the National Association of Estate Agents has voiced concerns over the “almost total lack of knowledge and understanding” among consumers about HIPs.It is also worried that some of the information will have a limited shelf life. “Unless a buyer is found within a set period, the seller might have to pay to update parts of the pack,” says chief executive Peter Bolton King.There are also worries over whether the packs will be ready for the “go-live” date of 1 June next year, although the ODPM says a timeline will be published “shortly”. A dry run for the packs was originally scheduled for July, but this is now being postponed until later in the year.’The packs are a good idea’Melanie Hibbert, 42, from Greenford, west London, is using an HIP to sell a two-bedroom flat she bought in Liverpool during her student years – in the hope it will speed up the sales process.”I moved to London five years ago but kept the property and let it out,” says Melanie, a GP.

“The time has now come to sell.”Her estate agent suggested she take part in a trial of the new packs being run independently of the Government by Easier2Move, an online conveyancing company.”The estate agent was prepared to put the pack together for me,” she says. “He was also happy to waive the fee as part of the trial.”Melanie’s property has been on the market for a week – at £125,000 – and she says that if she finds a buyer in a week, this will be a “good result”.”I’m hoping that if people are looking at flats and see something comparable to my flat, then the fact that the work has been done and the pack has been compiled could tip their decision,” she says.”I think the packs are a good idea and worth the cost.”. Saab 9-3 SportWagon V6

Price £28,295 Maximum speed 152mph, 0-60mph in 6.6 seconds Combined fuel consumption 27.7mpg Further information 0800 626 556 Things were looking decidedly wobbly for Saab a couple of years back I feared for it, I really did. Parent company General Motors was in terminal decline, and had little use for a quirky, low-volume European prestige brand draining more resources than the space programme. Saab had lost its design mojo, and was churning out boring, blobby saloons in fewer and fewer quantities in countries that barely knew where Sweden was. Anxious black polo-neck-wearing, home-coffee-grinding, naming-their-children-Olivia-and-Luca-type residents of Highgate formed action committees to see what could be done.
GM remains in dire trouble, of course, and there are still those who predict Saab still could go the way of Rover, but the last year and a half has seen a heartening – and rather startling – renaissance. Last year saw Saab chalk up an all-times sales record and the company became the UK’s fastest-growing premium brand.

North London is once again chocker with new 9-3 convertibles; and, look, here comes another fresh, cool model: the SportWagon. Just in case we get too carried away, I should start by admitting that, judged rationally, the new 9-3 estate is not really as good as its chief rivals, the BMW 3-Series Touring and the Audi A4 Avant. With tedious predictability, the Germans are too well engineered, too well built and, in the case of the BMW, too interesting to drive. They have more room in the back too, so if you want a proper estate, look elsewhere. But, of course, the Saab is not German, which has long been one of its chief selling points. And this particular Saab is actually rather lovely, which is another. It looks great, for starters, with its “iced-look” rear lights; dynamic Nike-tick carriage line; and earnest, chiselled front.

Saab has rekindled its Saabishness, but instead of looking faintly orthopaedic, as its cars used to, this one is svelte and sexy. As with all Swedish cars, the seats are very supportive, it steers with reasonable precision, and, depending on which of the seven engine options you choose, it has impressive amounts of thrust. Mine had the – admittedly costly – 2.8-litre V6, which was fantastically quick and smooth, and had none of the turbo lag and torque steer that made old Saabs such a fruity handful. But if you stick to the lower end of the range, you can get a Sportwagon on your drive remarkably cheaply (prices start at £17,995), something that never ceases to surprise about Saabs Best cup-holders in the business, too. Saab persists in harking back to its aeronautical heritage (we thought we’d humour them with our location for this week’s photo) but, really, talk of fighter jets is rather preposterous when their cars are based on Vauxhalls, and most are made outside of Sweden.

Then again, when you are sharing a platform with a Vectra, you’ve got to find your personality somewhere and it is nice to see that the classic cliff-face dashboard survives, gently wrapping around the pilot, sorry, driver. And, of course, you still turn the thing on by sticking the ignition key in a hole behind the handbrake. Which is silly, but, again, a tiny straw of quirkiness to clutch at in a globally homogenised world Saab expects the SportWagon to be its best seller in the UK. If you ask me, that is the least a car this stylish and well priced deserves. With thanks to Gatwick Aviation Museum It’s a classic: Saab 92 It is easy to forget what a radical, pioneering firm Saab once was. Its first production car, the 92, was launched in 1949 but had remarkably streamlined bodywork. Its successor, the 96, still only had a two-stroke, three-cylinder engine, but boasted revolutionary safety features, such as seat-belts and, by 1964, dual circuit brakes.