Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL] 2006

INTRODUCTION

This is a large Bill which addresses a number of topics. Part 3 deals with estate agency matters and only consists of six clauses and one schedule all designed to amend the Estate Agents Act 1979. The main objective is to make it compulsory for every estate agent to belong to a redress scheme such as (although not necessarily) the Ombudsman for Estate Agents and to keep some additional records for inspection.

As it is regarded as a non-contentious measure, the Bill has started its Parliamentary progress in the House of Lords where it had a formal Second Reading on Monday, 4 December 2006. It will now move into the Committee stage which is normally taken on the floor of the House so that any Peer may contribute. Following the Report Stage and formality of a Third Reading the Bill will then go to the House of Commons early next year when the serious negotiations will start. The plan is to bring this Part of the eventual Act into force towards the end of 2008.

PART 3 – ESTATE AGENCY

B1.     The Secretary of State explains his Estate Agency Proposals   This is a written House of Commons reply in which the SoS for the DTI, Alistair Darling, sets out various ideas for the part of the new Bill intended to deal with estate agency-related issues.     Click Here

B2.    The Impact Assessment for the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill   This is only the section of the Impact Assessment Bill which deals with estate agency issues.     Click Here

B3.    Part 3 of the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill   This is only the section of the Bill which deals with estate agency issues and, for convenience, Parts 1, 2 and 4 have been removed.     Click Here

B4.    The Guidance Notes In many ways the Guidance Notes are more useful than the draft legislation itself as they set out to explain what the Department is hoping to achieve with the new measures. Again this was originally a much larger document which has been carefully edited down to deal just with Part 3 and the associated Schedule.     Click Here

B5.    The House of Lords, Second Reading Debate of the CEAR Bill   This is taken from Hansard but only contains speeches relating to the estate agency aspects with discussions of Parts 1, 2 and 4 removed.     Click Here

COMMENTARY

B6.    Why do we need an estate agency redress scheme?   This is an explanation of the Government's thinking on the issue published when it first realised that the obligation to join an Ombudsman Scheme covering the production of Home Information Packs would not necessarily cover all estate agency work.    Click Here

B7.    The NAEA Briefing Notes   This is the initial reactions of the National Association of Estate Agents to the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill published immediately prior to the Second Reading of the Bill in the House of Lords.    Click Here

B8.    The Estate Agency News Article This is a brief commentary about the draft Bill published by 'Estate Agency News' in December 2006.     Click Here