Clause 3 - Duties of responsible person where a property is on the market
Homes Bill
11:15 am
Mr Nick Raynsford (Minister of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions; Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
The selection of hon. Members to serve on the Committee has nothing to do with me. I have already made it quite clear that I responded quickly to the points raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Upminster; I met him and discussed his concerns in detail. I have been willing to talk to other hon. Members outside the Committee because I believe that that is the right way to handle those matters. We are genuinely looking for the best way forward and we have considered alternatives. I made it clear earlier that we had considered civil sanctions as one possible mechanism, but that we had come to the conclusion that that was not the best way forward.
The fear that criminal sanctions are being applied inappropriately and that they are completely out of proportion does not stand up if one looks at the issue carefully. There are a large number of precedents for the application of the criminal law to enforce civil obligations. Let us take a few housing examples: the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985—an Act for which the previous Government were responsible, though it had earlier precedents—sets out obligations to provide a rent book, to provide information in a rent book and to provide information to leaseholders about service charges; those are all civil duties, but they are enforceable under the criminal law. The obligation to provide information to a prospective buyer does not seem very different.
It being twenty-five minutes past Eleven o'clock, The Chairman adjourned the Committee without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.
Adjourned till this day at half-past Two o'clock.