§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the President of the Board of Trade when he intends to implement the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991.
§ Mr. LeighMy hon. and noble Friend the Minister for Consumer Affairs and Small Firms has laid before Parliament today an order which will give effect to the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991.
Finding the right property is never easy, and people need to be able to rely on what they are told about property offered for sale. Nobody wants to waste time travelling to view properties which, had the particulars been accurate, he or she would have ruled out as unsuitable.
The Property Misdescriptions (Specified Matters) Order 1992 lists those characteristics of property which it will be an offence to misdescribe. These "specified matters" cover most characteristics of property commonly included in estate agents' particulars of sale.
230WThe Act does not require information to be supplied in respect of these matters, but if an agent chooses to provide information then it must not be false or misleading.
Offences under the Act will attract a maximum fine of £5,000 on conviction before a magistrates court and an unlimited fine on conviction before a Crown court. The Act will be enforced by local authority trading standards officers—in Northern Ireland, by officers of the Department of Economic Development trading standards branch.
My hon. and noble Friend has also laid before Parliament today a further order under the Estate Agents Act 1979.
The Estate Agents (Specified Offences) (No. 2) (Amendment) Order 1992 adds offences under the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 to those offences which can give rise to the issue of prohibition or warning notices against estate agents by the Director General of Fair Trading.
Both orders will come into force on 4 April 1993.