HC Deb 05 November 2003 vol 412 c665W
Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) of 11 September,Official Report, column 390W, on estate agents, what information her Department collates on the number of estate agents and their regulation. [136634]

Mr. Sutcliffe

According to the Office for National Statistics in June 2003 there were 8480 estate agent enterprises eligible for VAT in the UK.

The Estate Agents Act 1979 regulates the conduct of estate agents in the course of estate agency work. The Act gives the Director General of Fair Trading the power to issue warning or prohibition notices against those persons whom he considers to be unfit to carry on estate agency work.