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Baroness Hanham: One of the reasons why we are having to work so hard through these clauses is because there is remarkably little information about what is likely to be included in the information packs. The core, which has been referred to before, is quite obvious. Indeed, the explanatory notes set it out in some detail.
There are the wider issues. My example may have been a little extreme. There are areas in which demands could be made. The measures are to be contained in regulations which we do not have. We do not know what is to be included in the home pack. My noble friend Lord Caithness referred to 800 pages. We do not know whether there will be 800 pages or 500 pages. We do not know what is going to take the document to 100 pages.
One of the reasons why I raised this question was to see how wide the area of required information would be. I have not had an answer to my amendment. It may be that the noble Lord thought I was being frivolous. It is not a question of frivolity, but of basic information that we ought to be able to dig out from the Government as to what is required in the packs.
I shall withdraw the amendment today. I shall read carefully what has been said. There is no question but that we shall be returning to the contents of the packs in due course. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Baroness Hamwee moved Amendment No. 197A:
The noble Baroness said: This amendment is grouped with our Amendment No. 200A and Amendments Nos. 198 and 201 tabled by the noble
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Baroness, Lady Hanham. There are almost one sentence introductions to our two amendments. The first is to ensure that it is not necessary to supply the contract itself as part of the pack—only the terms on which the property is to be sold. I would think that that is fairly clear. But the Law Society says that it may be a potential trap for buyers to be presented with a potentially binding contract, which they may sign because they believe that is what is needed, but without having professional advice.
The second of our two amendments is to provide an alternative to the normal replies to inquiries which seem to be suggested by the Bill. I understand that the current forms being used are not all conventional replies to inquiries. This amendment is intended to be all encompassing. I beg to move.
Lord Phillips of Sudbury: I have a question to ask which I hope will help the Committee. Clause 144(5)(a), which is the part of the clause affected by the amendment, requires the information to be given about,
My question is twofold. First, what if all the terms on which it is proposed to sell are not included in the pack, whether through inadvertence or not? What remedy does the buyer have and what potential penalty, if any, is visited on the seller in default?
My second question refers to a commonplace problem. After one has marketed a property, one's circumstances may change or the market circumstances may change so that one needs, in turn, to change the terms on which one proposes to sell. Does the seller, who has issued the pack on one basis, have to inform all those to whom packs have been sent that he is changing the terms? What happens if he does not know where the packs have gone? He may well not know, as they may have been passed on.
This is a critical part of the mechanism, which is why the Law Society has latched on to it. I would be most grateful if the Minister can help the Committee with responses to those two questions.
Lord Rooker: I shall do my best to answer the noble Lord, Lord Phillips, and I am grateful for his advance warning of the questions. At present, I cannot put my hands on the answer. Dealing with the amendments referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, Amendment No. 197A would prevent the regulations from requiring the pack to include a contract. We recognise the concerns that lie behind the amendment.
In our consultation paper on the contents of the home information pack, in which there is a copy of a home information pack—all 100 pages of it—we drew attention to potential drawbacks of the pack containing a prescribed form of draft contract and to concerns about including even a specimen draft contract. We proposed that the pack should contain a summary of the terms on which a property is being offered for sale. Twenty-four of the 57 responses on
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the issue supported our proposal; and 29 disagreed with including a draft contract in the pack. We are now considering that further in the light of the responses received and the further consultation that we are undertaking, as we speak, with the professional and consumer bodies. The 57 responses were virtually split 50:50.
We do not propose to include in the pack a contract or even a document that is capable of becoming a contract when a buyer is found. I can be quite clear about that reassurance. As I mentioned earlier, any information prescribed for inclusion in a document in the pack must be "relevant information". Clause 144(4) defines "relevant information". It is information about any matter connected with the property or the sale of the property that, in the Secretary of State's opinion, would be of interest to potential buyers.
Clause 144(5)(c) provides that information which the Secretary of State may consider to be "relevant information" includes "anything relating to or affecting" the property that is contained in a statutory register or certain other records.
Clause 144(6)(a) provides that the pack may include the seller's replies to "prescribed pre-contract enquiries". Amendment No. 200A would extend that to cover specifically a seller's property information form. We proposed in the consultation paper that the pack should indeed include something along the lines of the Law Society's property information form, a standard form used by most conveyancers. Thirty-five of the 47 respondents on this issue support its inclusion. Again, we shall now consider this further with the key stakeholders. I can advise the Committee that Amendment No. 200A is not necessary to enable the pack to include a property information form. The form provides information on matters affecting the property which are likely to be important to potential buyers. That information is, therefore, very much "relevant information" within the meaning of Clause 144(4).
We are also satisfied that for the purpose of Clause 144(6), replies to pre-contract inquiries encompass replies to such inquiries made in the property information form. As we explained in the consultation paper, we do not intend that the home information pack should change the principle of caveat emptor—that is not our intention. I did not do Latin—that means "let the buyer beware".
We are not seeking to put sellers under a legal obligation to answer the questions in a property information form. No such obligation exists at present, though buyers have a right to rely on such information that is given. We expect that, as now, most sellers will take the view that it is in their interests to provide requested information where they are able to do so. As I said, the form is basically tick boxes. In some cases— for example, where a property has been inherited—the owner may have only limited information and might not be able to complete the form. The form is well designed to make it quite clear if one does not have the information.
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The noble Lord, Lord Phillips, raised the issue of changing the terms on which the seller proposes to sell. The terms in the pack would be those proposed at the time the property is marketed. If the seller decides to change those terms, there is no requirement in the Bill to change the pack, although clearly it is in the seller's interest to ensure that any such changes are brought to the attention of a potential buyer.
That gives me an opportunity to answer an earlier question, which we were not then able to answer. That was the issue of the updating of the pack. The noble Lord, Lord Phillips, raised this issue yesterday, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, raised it today. I want to make the position clear. It is not our intention to require the seller to update the pack. That is a misunderstanding. The information in the pack must not be more than three months old at the point that marketing commences. That does not mean it has to be updated every three months. I have heard that said, but we have never said that.
Lord Phillips of Sudbury: I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. Does that mean that if circumstances change—for example, the seller becomes aware of a contamination or subsidence problem after he or she has marketed—that when after they have become aware of the change somebody asks them for a home information pack, they can supply the original pack without that key information updated?
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