Clause 4Other duties of person acting as estate agent
Homes Bill
3:00 pm
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)
I am grateful for your guidance, Mr. Gale.
The Conservatives welcome the amendment in so far as it goes. It begins—I emphasise the word—to clear up the confusion that might arise when an estate agent starts to market a property. The Minister provided a narrow definition in referring to when an agent communicates to his employees, spouses, friends and so on. As someone with direct experience of marketing properties, let me tell the Minister what often happens in practice. A person wishing to sell a house will invite one or more agents to discuss the proposition—a process that can take some time because fees, marketing and other matters have to be negotiated. Not until that process is concluded and the client has chosen which agent will market the property will any agent be in a position to proceed. During the phoney marketing phase or pre-marketing phase, an agent will need to discuss that property with other employees and members of his firm. That is only natural, but it is not to say that he would then start a marketing campaign. The Minister must state at exactly what point an estate agent is deemed to be marketing a property.
I want to return to a proposition that I put to the Minister this morning, as I have taken further advice and I believe that what he told me earlier may be wrong. It is about the circumstances in which a property is put on the market by an estate agent. Another agent, having seen the first agent's advertising and marketing says, ``I am retained by a client who is looking for precisely that type of property.'' He tells the other agent, ``I have a client who is interested in purchasing the property,'' or he may approach his client directly. The Minister told me this morning that in those circumstances, the introducing agent would be required to produce a seller's pack.
My advice is that that may not be correct. I should be grateful if the Minister confirmed his previous answer, because one or two experts on the matter believe that he may have been wrong. Depending on what the Minister says, my colleagues and I may or may not try to catch your eye in the stand part debate, Mr. Gale.