Clause 14 - Acting as an estate agent
Homes Bill
7:00 pm
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)
It is worth pausing in order to probe the Government a little further on precisely what they mean by acting as an estate agent. It is a curious anomaly that anyone can set up as an estate agent; they need no training or experience to deal with what, for many, is the most expensive and important transaction in their lives.
Most estate agents are covered by one or more of the professional bodies and will have had extensive training; many will have had many years' experience and be able to handle such matters with a great deal of professionalism and the requisite judgment. However, cowboy agents, with no experience or training, can set up a stall overnight. They may be covered by section 22 of the Estate Agents Act 1979, but that deals only with ethical matters and not with minimum standards of competence. It would be interesting to know whether the Government believe that the Bill should impose minimum standards of competence. After all, the purpose of the Bill is to make buying and selling of houses quicker and more efficient. The cowboys are precisely the sort of people who ought to be rooted out.
I wish to probe the Government also on exactly what the Bill covers. For example, does it cover firms or individuals who are not estate agents but who have set themselves up to handle a particular sale and who then subcontract the work to an estate agent? In such circumstances, the firm or individual that started the process would be liable for producing the seller's pack, but if they were not skilled in the work of estate agency, how would they know whether the seller's pack was complete in all particulars? It would be useful if the Government were able to give us some idea of their thinking. I shall let the Minister reply before saying any more.