Roof is caving on Kelly after her home kit debacle

The Communities Secretary looked increasingly isolated as colleagues openly suggested she should take the blame for the crisis over the flagship policy.

She was greeted with jeers in the Commons on Tuesday after announcing a two-month delay in introducing HIPs.

It's now feared the property market faces "gridlock" this summer because of the botched introduction of the packs.

But some estate agents say they will be recommending clients re-market their four bedroom homes as three beds with a study or reception room.

Such a move would be legal as there is no definition in law of a bedroom. It would mean sellers could avoid paying the £600 cost of a pack and speed up the sale.

Hugh Grover, a senior estate agent based in north London, said: "The whole thing is a fiasco. The obvious response is to designate one bedroom as a reception room. Or people could just call them 'rooms' and leave it to the buyer how it's used."

David Marsden, of law firm Matthew Arnold and Baldwin, told The Telegraph: "We will start seeing three-bedroom houses advertised with a dining room on the first floor and an upstairs lounge."

The information pack contains the title documents for the property, local authority searches, a sale statement and an energy performance certificate.

But it is not clear about when sellers of four-bedroom homes will need to have the packs in place.

The humiliating home pack U-turn is the latest in a string of controversies involving Miss Kelly since she was promoted to the Cabinet at 36 by Tony Blair in 2004.

One ministerial source said last night: "Ruth is very bright, but she has become very accident prone and she should take the blame for the HIPs disaster. She has been overpromoted. The whole thing has been incompetently handled."

Miss Kelly's critics also say her decision has created problems for her Housing Minister Yvette Cooper, who is widely tipped for a promotion to the Cabinet under Gordon Brown.

HIPs were originally proposed in Labour's 1997 manifesto.

One of Miss Kelly's first decisions last summer was to water down HIPs by dropping a requirement for homes to have a full condition survey when they go on to the market.

Allies of Miss Cooper, who is responsible for the policy, say that this decision was made without consulting her and has led to the current problems. One Labour MP said: "It left the policy with a gaping hole.

"The part of HIPs easily explained to the public was having a survey early so property chains would not collapse at the last minute because someone's survey produced a shock finding. Once jettisoned, HIPs became much harder to sell."

But opposition MPs say Miss Cooper must share the blame as she has championed HIPs since 2005 despite mounting warnings from a range of experts that it spelt disaster.

HIPS were meant to be introduced on June 1 and include everything needed to sell a home, such as local authority searches, deeds and an energy efficiency rating.

They will now apply only to a fraction of homes being sold. Any property with fewer than four bedrooms will be exempt. Miss Kelly's woes deepened yesterday when it emerged that her new deadline of August 1 for the introduction of the packs may also be under threat.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which forced the delay after starting a legal challenge, is now demanding a 12-week consultation period on the latest changes.

This would delay implementation until September.

The RICS insists it dropped its judicial review only after the Government agreed to a 12-week consultation over its insistence that a home's Energy Performance Certificate - the HIPs' energy efficiency rating - should not be more than three months old.

But the Government insists the consultation is not required because it has decided an EPC can be up to 12 months old. Yesterday the RICS threatened to take the Government back to court if it reneges on the deal.

Gordon Brown is said to be lukewarm on the idea, although he is committed to EPCs.

There are question marks over whether Mr Brown will either sack or move Miss Kelly in his first reshuffle.

Tory leader David Cameron yesterday accused Miss Cooper of misleading MPs by claiming last week that the legal challenge was "groundless" and more than 1,000 inspectors were trained when Miss Kelly admitted only 500 were ready.

He added: "What on earth is she still doing in her job?"

Tory housing spokesman Michael Gove said: "The Government's handling of HIPs has been a shambles."