Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [Lords]

The debate has raised two major difficulties with the scheme proposed by the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Susan Kramer). The first, which has already been mentioned, is the question of who will carry out the training. We have already seen the difficulties that arose when the Government tried to get their scheme for home inspectors off the ground, so the training would probably be left to one of the existing bodies. The second real difficulty, which has not been covered in the debate, relates to the training that would be required. As chartered surveyors, my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Mr. Benyon) and I know that it takes four years to train for that profession, and part of the training is a year’s experience actually doing the job. The hon. Lady’s proposal for a six-month training course would not include any training on the job, which is one of the best ways of learning how to become an estate agent.