Clause 6Defences
Homes Bill
5:00 pm
Mr Nick Raynsford (Minister of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions; Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
Exactly the same considerations that I have been describing apply at present. An estate agent might decline to provide particulars of a property to an individual on the instructions of the seller. It might be a specific instruction such as, ``Under no circumstances are you to ever to entertain a bid from my loathsome neighbour Mr. X''. It might be a more general but entirely legitimate instruction, which would not breach the anti-discrimination legislation, to exclude groups of people such as those who would be unlikely to maintain the garden. Exactly the same considerations would apply because the Human Rights Act is already in force. We are not introducing new concepts. We are trying to ensure that the provisions of the Bill are compatible both with the anti-discrimination legislation and the Human Rights Act. I hope that, on that basis, hon. Members will accept that this is a sensible clause that should stand part of the Bill.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 6, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.