Clause 8 - Home condition reports
Homes Bill
5:45 pm
Mr Nick Raynsford (Minister of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions; Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
That is indicative of an Opposition who are focusing on the detail rather than seeing the big picture. I have had cause to chide the Liberal Democrats for not being conscious of the realities of business, and I have to say that the hon. Gentleman has fallen into the same trap. If a property has been on the market for a year or more, it is likely that the vendor will reduce the price in order to secure a sale. To suggest that the person who buys six months, a year or 18 months after the property was put on the market is landed with an additional cost without any potential off-setting saving shows that he is out of touch with reality. The hon. Gentleman will recognise that when properties are on the market for a long time the vendors tend to reduce the price in order to make a sale. The Opposition should ``Get real''. They should think about how the market operates and recognise that this is an important additional provision that will ensure that people are better informed and better able to make rational judgments on something that is hugely important to them. That is the result of the Government's determination to attack the problem instead of trying to justify the maintenance of the status quo, which, sadly, is the Opposition's position. They spent 18 years presiding over a housing market that went through extreme fluctuations of boom and bust, and did nothing about it. Now, they can only carp at and criticise our attempts to put matters right. It is a sad reflection on the Opposition that they are not able to take a more constructive position, and the judgment of history will find them wanting.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 8, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.