Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

I do not think that they are even on the list. My experience of them certainly does not warrant them being on it. What will the consumer be faced with in the future? He will hope that the Bill will do something about estate agents, but all he will find is that there will be a redress scheme for some estate agents. However, other estate agents will be regulated and licensed. So, what does the consumer do when making his choice? How will he find out the information that we have a multi-tier system for estate agents, some of whom have to meet certain standards and some of whom do not? There will be a third tier of estate agents who will still be the cowboys that we all want to get rid of and who will avoid this provision until the last possible moment. They do not need to tell anyone that they are setting up as an estate agent. It is only when a complaint has been made and the proposed redress scheme comes into effect that the consumer will know about that person. The person can simply fold the business up and go off and do another job. I do not believe that that is helping the consumer. It puts him in a far worse position than he is in now. I really hope that the Minister will look at this issue very seriously between now and another stage. It is vital. The biggest transaction of most people’s lives will be to buy and sell. They need to have utter confidence that the team acting for them is of the best quality and the highest standards. At the moment, it cannot be argued that that is the case, and it certainly cannot be the case in the future because the Bill does not help them. I beg to move.