Minister stalls once more on bringing in RoPA recommendations as Lords fume
Frustration was clear in Lords as minister was grilled on both his failure to implement RoPA, or ability to reveal next steps.
Political impatience with the Government over its failure to implement Lord Best’s much-lauded Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) report came to a head in the Lords yesterday.
Housing minister Lord Greenhalgh (main pic) was given the nearest thing a drubbing that Lords can deliver within parliament’s etiquette rules, with speaker after speaker asking why the government had still not done anything since the report was delivered by Lord Best (pictured) two years ago.
As Best pointed out, the industry is somewhat bewildered that nothing has come of the RoPA report despite cross-party and cross-industry support for its recommendations.
The minister demurred on several occasion when asked whether at least some of the RoPA recommendations could be brought in.
This included calls for its suggested Code of Practice (being drawn up by Baroness Hayter and others) and suggested an overarching industry regulator.
Frustration
Frustration was clear across the floor of the Lords when Greenhalgh also declined to say whether any action was likely ‘within six months’ in response to a question by Lord Best.
The best Greenhalgh could offer was that he looked forward to seeing the draft Code of Practice which is due to be delivered at any moment, and that “the government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for home owners and renters and making sure that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service… including by raising standards and professionalism among property agents”.
The minister, who at several points during the short debate appeared aware of the content-free nature of his replies about the delay in implementing RoPA, said Ministers were still ‘considering the report’s recommendations’.
Lord Palmer of Childs Hill, who sits on the board of the Property Redress Scheme, also pushed the Minister on when he expected a regulator would be appointed – but an answer he did not get.
Read Propertymark’s latest view on the RoPA recommendations.
