Clause 3Duties of a responsible person where a property is on the market
Homes Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Nick Raynsford (Minister of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions; Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
At our previous sitting I referred to the fact that on a number of other comparable issues involving housing law, criminal sanctions do apply as a means of enforcing what are, in effect, civil duties. I was referring to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, where obligations to provide rent books and to provide information about service charges to leaseholders are important and are, essentially, civil duties that are backed by criminal sanctions when there is a failure to comply. In those circumstances, it seems entirely appropriate to adopt a similar approach in this legislation. Another important reason for doing so is that the duties of estate agents under this legislation are, in many ways, complementary to the obligations under the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991. The hon. Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown), who seemed to be pre-occupied by this matter earlier, should be reminded that that Act, which imposed criminal sanctions with unlimited fines, was passed by the Government he supported.
Hon. Members also raised the interesting question of what happens overseas. New South Wales was the first area to pursue the idea of a seller's pack. It felt it necessary to provide for sanctions in the event of a failure to comply. My understanding is that any seller in New South Wales found guilty of concealing or falsifying any information required to be disclosed shall be liable, at the discretion of the supreme court, to suffer such punishment by fine or imprisonment for any time not exceeding two years, with our without hard labour, or both, as the court awards. I am only astonished at our own moderation.