Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the noble Earl, Lord Caithness. The phrase for this afternoon is ““missed opportunity””. It has been used by the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, and by the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, and I repeat it. We rehearsed the arguments at length in Committee. Essentially, we believe that those who lease are left naked under the Bill. Those people are, almost by definition, generally less able to afford the proper professional advice that they would normally be entitled to when entering into a leasing transaction, and therefore the redress scheme should apply to the leasing area. In addition, in recent years, we have seen substantial growth in major inner-city flat developments. Many of those flats have been bought by investors who hope to achieve capital appreciation and who, in the course of that appreciation, let the flats. Agents are involved in the letting process, and the redress scheme will not cover them. We support the noble Earl on Amendment No. 6 and will vote with him if he chooses to press it.