Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 89: 89: Before Clause 52 , insert the following new Clause— ““Estate agency work (1) Section 1 of the Estate Agents Act 1979 (c. 38) (estate agency work) is amended as follows. (2) In subsection (1) after ““land”” insert ““or who wishes to let, rent or manage residential property””. (3) In subsection (1)(a) after ““such an interest”” insert ““or manage, rent or, as the case may be, let such a residential interest””. (4) In subsection (1)(b) after ““of that interest”” insert ““or the management, letting or, as the case may be, renting of that residential interest””.”” The noble Earl said: My Lords, I degrouped this amendment from the previous one, because it makes a different point. The noble Lord, Lord Lee of Trafford, mentioned it briefly and covered it well. I have two points to make in support of the amendment, which is to do with letting agents. This is an area of the market that has grown hugely since the passing of the Estate Agents Act 1979. There are now a vast number of people working in the residential letting market who are not covered and who need to be covered. This is where the 1979 Act needs to be brought up to date. In Committee, the Minister mentioned the tenancy deposit scheme, and he argued that that was being put into place. That is a limited scheme applying only to deposits and it does not provide independent mediation for any of the other disputes encountered in the letting process. A considerable proportion of the inquiries that the National Association of Estate Agents and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors have received relate to service issues rather than deposits. It is therefore important that residential lettings are placed on the same footing as residential sales. I beg to move.