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Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

My Lords, the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, will recall that on Report I undertook to consider this matter further. I have now reviewed the arguments, but have concluded that this course isnot possible under this Bill. I have written to the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, to explain the reasons for that. As that letter explains, the aim of the Bill is to implement the recommendations in the OFT report on the estate agency market in England and Wales. It was never our intention comprehensively to overhaul the 1979 Act. The OFT report did not consider the case for extending the 1979 Act to include lettings and property management. Consequently, the Government do not have the required evidence base to extend the Act in that way. In addition, there has been no consultation with industry about this proposal, in line with normal government practice. Furthermore, amending the definition of estate agency work in Section 1 of the 1979 Act would require careful consideration to ensure that the policy objectives were achieved and all the necessary consequential changes were made, and to check for any unintended consequences. Even if all the necessary research and consultation had been done, it would not be possible to undertake this detailedand time-intensive work at this point in the Bill’s passage. In response to points made by the noble Lords, Lord Lee of Trafford and Lord Razzall, and the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, I can assure noble Lords that the Government will continue to monitor the private-rented sector and the property sector more generally, including direct sales by property developers, to determine whether there is market failure. At some point there may be a need for new legislation in the property sector. I do not share the view of the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, that we cannot come back to this issue, as I pray and hope that our Government will be in power for a long time and we will have many opportunities to revisit the subject. Nevertheless, it is right that these matters are considered on the basis of proper evidence and consultation. I hope that the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, will understand that the Government have gone as far as they can to meet his concerns. I reassure him that the Government will continue to keep a close eye onthe issues that he and other noble Lords have raised in the debate today.