A new report has shown that an increasing number of families are looking for larger homes with more space, and thus an extra bedroom is a key selling point. However some disillusioned sellers are still banking on marketing their four-bedroomed house as a ‘three-bed property plus a study’ in a bid to escape HIPs if they sell by the time three-bedroomed properties are phased in.

Changing an additional spare bedroom into a study will certainly help appeal to a section of buyers, but if your home is located in a family area near to necessary amenities such as a park or a school, it could turn out to be financial suicide and rule out any potential profits.

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Buyers will pay an average of around £34,000 for an extra bedroom, but depending on the location of the property this can range anywhere up to a staggering £100,000. Whilst this is a bitter pill to swallow for some buyers looking to maximise the space they get for their money, it could spell disaster for sellers looking to shave a few hundred pounds off their costs but actually ending up losing thousands upon thousands in the process.

Indeed research from Primemove.com has confirmed that the average price difference between a three bedroomed property and a four bedroomed one is now over £160,000 in London and nearer £100,000 across the rest of the country.

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Yorkshire Bank’s report also highlighted that only one in four families would let current house prices put them off their quest for their dream home. Instead they see this move up the property ladder as a key requirement, meaning sellers should look at the bigger picture and fork out the couple of hundred pounds for a HIP in order to widen their target audience.

Three quarters of Brits have now admitted that they would be tempted to market their four-bed property as comprising ‘three bedrooms and a study’ to sidestep the cost of a HIP. In addition, three in four Brits expressed concerns over the absence of a home survey in the standard pack, worrying that this omission would see an increase the overall costs of selling their home and leading them to take drastic measures to dodge the burden. On the flipside of this debate, buyers say they would be inclined to mistrust the packs because the seller could purposefully skim over potential turn-offs.

Henry Pryor, director of Primemove.com and thehipexchange.co.uk had some cautionary advice for tempted sellers: “The only additional cost in a Home Information Pack is the production of the Energy Performance Certificate which will be about £140. All the other work is being produced before a sale rather than after but will cost the same.

“Suggestions that house sellers might want to avoid this cost by taking a bed out of their fourth bedroom is clearly ludicrous – no one is going to want to lose over £100,000 just to save the cost of producing a HIP”