Clause 242
Housing and Regeneration Bill
2:30 pm
Grant Shapps (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; Welwyn Hatfield, Conservative)
Thank you, Mr. Gale. We can broadly welcome sustainability certificates, although we will be interested to see how they work. There is a lot of detail in clause 242 and subsequent clauses about how these certificates should operate. The Government should be wary, following their experience of introducing another kind of certificate in the form of HIPs. I know that the experience will be a scar borne by the Minister and his right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing for years to come.
The certificates do not appear to have a cost or even an estimated cost attached to it. I imagine that that is because it would vary widely depending on the kind of new home. The scope of the sustainability certificate—I do not want to stray into clause 243—is quite broad. There is a long list of different areas that it may cover.
I want to pick the Minister up on clause 242(8) and the unusual drafting language. It says:
“The seller is not required to comply with a requirement imposed by virtue of this section if the seller has a reasonable excuse for not complying with the requirement.”
I wonder whether the Minister could clarify—I congratulate the drafters for not writing this in gobbledegook—what a reasonable excuse would entail?