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Business of the House

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this important issue and as he rightly says, for most people, such financial transactions are probably the most important ones that they undertake in their entire lives. Estate agents are currently regulated by the Estate Agents Act 1979, which gives the Office of Fair Trading the power to prohibit persons from acting as estate agents in certain circumstances. However, the Government are looking at ways of improving estate agents’ regulation, and we will put in place arrangements to ensure that consumers get redress from an independent body when they have legitimate grievances against estate agents. So the Government do take this issue very seriously, we recognise that there is public concern and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising it.