Commenting on yesterday's Question Time in the House of Commons, when Home Information Packs were discussed, Peter Bolton King, Chief Executive of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said: "The NAEA is concerned that the minister perhaps does not clearly understand the property market. Far from making money from abortive transactions, estate agents lose because they only get paid when a sale is successful. This apparent lack of understanding is one of the reasons opinion on HIPs is so polarised. We would urge the Minister to take the time to find out how the property market really works. Perhaps then she would understand why, whilst in favour of beneficial changes to the property buying system, a substantial section of the property industry is warning her that the scheme is impractical."
Extract from House of Commons Question Time, 6 June 2006
Michael Gove (Surrey Heath) (Con): The Minister is all too well aware that every industry expert insists on the need for an appropriate dry run before we press ahead with this intervention in the marketplace. However, so far only 200 of the 4,000 promised home inspectors have actually qualified; no specific geographical areas have yet been earmarked for dry runs, despite what her predecessor as the Minister for Housing and Planning promised in 2004; and we have no clear, unambiguous and independently audited criteria for judging the success of those dry runs. Can the Minister tell us what the benchmark for success in the dry runs will be, or will Ministers simply award themselves a pass mark irrespective of the results?
Yvette Cooper: The hon. Gentleman has long been an advocate for those in the property industry who are opposed to the introduction of home information packs because, frankly, they make money out of the existing system. The advocate on behalf of buyers and sellers, the Consumers Association, is strongly in favour of home information packs. I caution the hon. Gentleman against becoming the parliamentary spokesperson for the National Association of Estate Agents, which might have its own interests in the process.
