Clause 8 - Home condition reports
Homes Bill
12:30 pm
Mr Nick Raynsford (Minister of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions; Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for expanding the argument beyond an arid debate on the merits of ``may'' and ``shall'', which, as the hon. Gentleman knows and I have conceded, is an approach that Oppositions often adopt—indeed, I pursued similar lines of argument when I was in opposition. I shall first deal with the technicalities of why we use ``may'' and then deal with the more substantive points that he raised.
It is appropriate to use ``may'' rather than ``shall'' in this instance as there is no requirement for the regulations empowered by clause 7 to be made. However, as I explained when dealing with amendment No. 43, ``may'' does not imply that the regulations will not be made. The other provisions in the Bill cannot work unless the contents of the pack are prescribed in regulations and we are therefore wholly committed to using them. Legally, the Secretary of State cannot be bound to make regulations that are not otherwise absolutely required. As soon as we have completed our consultation with interested parties and we are satisfied that a sufficient number of appropriately qualified inspectors is available, we intend that the Secretary of State will make regulations under clause 7 to deal with the provisions in clause 8.
On the number of inspectors, I have said that sufficient general surveyors are practising to meet the target figure of 9,000. In addition, some 3,000 others are engaged in valuation and others who are qualified in different disciplines may have an interest—I mentioned several professional institutes whose members might be interested in becoming accredited inspectors. The important point is that they must have the skills to carry out an inspection.
Currently, not all valuers have all the necessary skills. Last week, we had an interesting debate on energy efficiency. Inspectors will need to be familiar with the standard assessment procedure—the SAP rating—for a property. Not all valuers will necessarily have that skill and they will need training. A degree of training will therefore be necessary for all those who want to be accredited as inspectors, whatever their current professional discipline. It is our intention that the arrangements will ensure that all those who are accredited have all the skills necessary to complete all the work contained in the home condition report.
We hope that lenders will be satisfied that those arrangements ensure that they have the information necessary to complete the valuation, but they will probably, as is increasingly common practice, depend on a degree of desktop valuation conducted in their offices by experts in the particular field. The new system will not necessarily entirely supplant the process of valuation by the lender, but it will considerably reduce the requirement to visit a property and carry out an expensive additional inspection so that the valuation can be agreed. That is where the potential saving will be made.
The hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham referred to property supermarkets, and I agree that we will see a trend toward the provision of a more seamless service that covers a range of different disciplines; in particular, I believe that a number of solicitors will move in that direction. Rather than simply adopt the position that they are concerned solely with conveyancing, solicitors will recognise that they have a good basis for preparing the seller's pack themselves, providing the information necessary for it and offering that service. No doubt, there will be circumstances in which individual professionals are engaged in other activities. That is not a bad thing if it provides the public with a better quality of service, but important issues of conflict of interest might arise, as the hon. Gentleman pointed out.