Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [Lords]

The hon. Gentleman is welcome to write to me. As I say, officials are drawing up the terms of reference for that work. If the hon. Gentleman wants to make a contribution to reflections on that, I will make sure that his letter is taken into account. As for internet-based estate agency, the OFT issued guidance in September 2005 on the types of activity carried out by internet property retailers that are likely to lead to their falling within the definition of estate agency work under the 1979 Act. Where activities over the net fall within the meaning of estate agency work under the 1979 Act, internet property retailers will be required to be members of redress schemes. My right hon. Friend the Member for Makerfield (Mr. McCartney) explained in Committee the reasons why we have not sought to change the definition of estate agency in this Bill. We have already taken action to deal with some of the problems in the lettings sector. The tenancy deposit scheme, which was introduced in April, has improved the rights of tenants by ensuring that deposits cannot be withheld unfairly. The Housing Act 2004 gave new rights to vulnerable tenants by requiring landlords who manage houses of multiple occupation to be licensed. We have committed to looking closely at the lettings sector as part of the wider property review. We need to look carefully at the evidence, make sure that we have the evidence that we need and then consider recommendations from the reviews that have been put in train before deciding what next steps are necessary. It is also important that major changes of the kind envisaged in the new clause are made by Parliament through primary legislation rather than the broad power proposed in new clause 1.