Asked by
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce an
independent property-agent regulator, to deliver a legally
enforceable code of practice for property agents.
(Lab Co-op)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on
the Order Paper, and I draw the House's attention to my relevant
registered interests and to the fact that I am a leaseholder.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Levelling Up, Housing & Communities () (Con)
The Government are committed to raising professionalism among
property agents. Property agents must already belong to a redress
scheme. The Government's Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill and
Renters (Reform) Bill will help drive up overall standards.
Legislating to set up a new regulator would, however, require
significant additional legislative time that we do not have in
this Parliament. We will meanwhile continue to work with industry
on improving best practice, including on codes of practice.
(Lab Co-op)
My Lords, the Government received the report from the noble Lord,
, in the last Parliament, in July
2019. Can the Minister explain to the House what the Government
have been doing for the past five years on this issue? There is
widespread agreement on what needs to be done. From the outside,
it looks like the Government are reluctant, unenthusiastic,
disinclined and generally unwilling to address the issue.
(Con)
I appreciate the time delay and am exceedingly grateful to the
noble Lord, , for the report from him and his
working group, which included more than 50 recommendations
cutting across different housing tenures. We are developing key
primary legislation to address the fundamental power imbalance
that exists in parts of the housing market. Through the Renters
(Reform) Bill and the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, we are
taking forward specific recommendations from the noble Lord's
report, and we will keep the question of further regulation for
the sector under review.
(CB)
My Lords, did the Minister see the excellent report from your
Lordships' Industry and Regulators Select Committee, which
thoroughly endorsed the need for a regulator? It took evidence
both from those representing the consumers—that is, tenants,
leaseholders and people buying and selling properties—and from
those who would be regulated, the agents themselves, who felt at
least as passionately about the need for a regulator. If we
cannot have a fully-fledged regulator because time does not
allow, could we at least go half way and introduce some mandatory
training and qualifications so that the people handling property
agency work know what they are talking about and we weed out some
of the rogues?
Baroness Swinburne (Con)
I thank the noble Lord for his comments and for his work, which I
have acknowledged. I am grateful also to noble Lords on the
committee for their recent work on this important topic.
Ministers are considering its recommendations and will respond in
due course. Training programmes are currently available, and. I
suspect that this question will come up time and again. In
respect of the legislation that we are currently talking about, I
have no doubt that I will be having those conversations with the
Minister, my noble friend Lady Scott, in the coming days and
weeks.
Lord Foster of Bath (LD)
My Lords, given the clear, widespread support for the
introduction of an independent property agents regulator, first
proposed by the indefatigable noble Lord, Lord Best, some five
years ago, can the Minister explain why, having had five years to
think this through, it is not now possible, as she seems to
suggest, for the Government to include it by way of an amendment
to the Renters (Reform) Bill? That way, they would provide what
more or less everybody in this House and outside it are keen to
see.
Baroness Swinburne (Con)
I understand the frustration. I believe that all of us in this
House and in our wider communities would like to see more
professional-quality work being done in this sector and that we
all want to drive up service standards for buyers, sellers and
renters—whoever they may be—interacting with the system. It is
important that we get it right; measures are coming up in the
leasehold and freehold Bill and certainly in the private renters
Bill, both of which will be before this House over the next few
weeks. Therefore, there are opportunities for us to put forward
specific measures that we felt were a priority in the leaseholder
space and the private rental space.
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)
My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the Property
Ombudsman. The ombudsman has been producing codes of practice for
several decades, and that skill was utilised by the RoPA steering
group, particularly the steering group chaired by my noble friend
Lady Hayter. A new code was produced which has been received very
positively. It stands ready to be implemented, and I urge His
Majesty's Government to give serious consideration to how it
could be achieved in the absence of a regulator.
Baroness Swinburne (Con)
The Government welcome the work undertaken by the independent
steering group chaired by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter of
Kentish Town, on the codes of practice for property agents. That
is an important development towards making sure all consumers are
treated fairly and all agents work to the same high standards.
The Government have approved two codes for managing agents, which
set out good practice and are to be taken into account in cases
before courts or the tribunal. We will consider other codes as
they are brought forward.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, I declare a former interest in that I used to chair
National Trading Standards. The Minister will be aware that the
department already funds an estate agents and letting agents
regulator through National Trading Standards. Would it not make
sense to extend the remit of that regulatory function carried out
by Trading Standards into this field? That could presumably be
done fairly simply, fairly easily and possibly fairly
cheaply.
Baroness Swinburne (Con)
Estate agents are regulated under the Estate Agents Act 1979,
which is currently enforced by the National Trading Standards
estate and letting agency team—the abbreviation or acronym is too
complicated for me to work out, so I have given the full title.
It has powers to issue warnings and banning orders, and estate
agents are required to belong to an approved redress scheme.
These things can all be improved on. When we bring forward the
home buyers and sellers reform strategy over the coming months, I
hope to come back to the House and give details on further
actions.
Lord Blunkett (Lab)
My Lords, the bad apples are giving legitimate, professional
agents a very bad name, recently highlighted in my own city of
Sheffield, where instances of adding charges that never existed
to ground rents and refusing to answer correspondence and
communication were taken up by the honourable Member for
Sheffield South East, Clive Betts. We have just ascertained,
including from the Minister, that we have unanimity across the
House. Could we not just agree in the legislation coming forward
very shortly to pass the necessary measures to put this
right?Baroness Swinburne Swinburne (Con)
I can confirm that in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill we
are introducing measures to empower leaseholders to take action
in the event of unreasonable behaviour. The Bill will make it
easier for leaseholders to scrutinise costs and challenge the
services provided by both landlords and property managing agents
and ultimately for them to take on the management of their
building themselves or directly appoint or replace agents.
Alongside existing protections and work undertaken by the
industry, these measures will seek to make property managing
agents more accountable to leaseholders who pay for their
services. It Stevenage
Stevenage (Lab)
My Lords, we have before the House a suggestion that we introduce
a property regulator. It has waited five years. There is
agreement across the House. Surely we should take the opportunity
to amend the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill or the Renters
(Reform) Bill to introduce this. Five years is long enough to
wait, especially when we have complete agreement across the House
that this is what we need to do.Baroness Swinburne Swinburne
(Con)
I know that the Minister, my noble friend Lady Scott, has engaged
with noble Lords on the leaseholder and freeholder Bill and will
continue to do so as it progresses through this House next week.
I understand that the noble Lord, Lord Best, has reached out to
her to consider how to improve the Bill further. I have no doubt
that further conversations will happen as we consider the Bill in
detail in Committee.
Lord Kamall (Con)
My noble friend the Minister will be aware that there have been
some industry initiatives—though they are not perfect—over the
years such as Safeagent and the kitemark scheme. In considering
the possibility of more regulation in this space, could my noble
friend and her department ensure that they do not squeeze out
those private initiatives and work in conjunction with them?
Baroness Swinburne (Con)
I can confirm to my noble friend that we are working hand in
glove with industry and trade bodies that want good-quality
services provided by their members. It is in their interests, in
our interests and in consumers' interests that we do so.
