I am glad that the hon. Lady generally welcomes the approach to tackling something that I think we all want to see prohibited. We are confident that the provisions will work. Overseas landlords and letting agents are subject to all the existing requirements for being a member of a redress scheme, and we have consulted on those provisions and will extend them. It is mandatory for letting agents to be a member of a redress scheme. Without such membership they cannot function in the market and will be in breach of their legal obligations. Whether people are overseas or in the domestic realm, there are multiple levels of protection and they must comply with the regulations in order to let property.

With regard to the hon. Lady’s other broad point about associations between people, we have drafted the legislation in a way that is consistent with other legislation that tackles this. Generally, the test is for the director or officer; then there is a further test about either deliberate negligence or a particular action of the individual in question that has led to the breach, which is a standard and appropriate legal framework. The hon. Lady knows that this is an evolving area. In this case, we are right on the cutting edge in making sure that we address it, but if there are innovative schemes that people come up with to try to avoid legislation—whether this or any other—the Government will always stand ready to try to stamp that out. We remain confident that this will work in practice. It addresses the concerns that many hon. Members on both sides of the Committee have raised. I beg to urge the Committee to support the clauses and their addition to the Bill.