ESTATE AGENTS BILL
SIR,—Leslie Adrian finds it odd that the reputable independent agencies are fighting this Bill. He would not find it so odd if he had not- been misled by its sponsors about its terms and its aims.
They do not mention, for example, that their own members whose application for registration is refused have a full right of appeal to the Courts, but the independent agent in the same position is denied an appeal to the Courts.
They claim that we exaggerate the power to be
exercised by the chartered bodies: under the terms of the Bill, the chartered bodies are guaranteed permanent controlling voting power on the Council. irrespective of the proportion of registered agents who may be their members. Normal democratic elections are- not to be permitted, and the reason is not hard to find. In a confidential memorandum to their members in February, 1960, the Royal Institution of Chartered. Surveyors say (paras 14-16) that if the desired objects are to be achieved, the Registration Council (sic) should not be constituted by proportional representation.
More serious even than this, perhaps, is the
sponsors' apparent attempt to mislead the public as to the protection given under the Bill. The position regarding the much-vaunted Compensation Fund is this: within three years of an unspecified date the Council must submit a scheme for a compensation fund, to take effect within a further unspecified period,, and from this fund the Council may if it wishes (and need not if it chooses not to) make ex gratis grants to mitigate losses suffered for strictly limited reasons. There will be no appeal. and no independent assessment of the loss actuallY suffered. The sponsors invite comparison of their scheme with the Law Society compensation fund. Fair enough: too many of your readers will be aware that despite the conviction of a solicitor for fraudulent conversion several years ago, to this dal, members of the State Building Society have still not received a penny piece from the Law Society fund.
Our memorandum to which Leslie Adrian -re- ferred in his article was indeed written before We had seen the terms of the Bill. Not surprisinglY, (a) because it was concerned with existing restrictive practices imposed by the chartered bodies on their members, (b) because it dealt with the chartered bodies' proposals only as so far disclosed and (c) because in spite of the fact that the draft Bill had been prepared months beforehand, we were not permitted to see it until just a month before the second reading was due.
Our proposals for legislation were published over
a year ago. They follow closely legislation which has operated successfully in the Commonwealth and the US for up to twenty-two years. They provide for statutory control of all estate agents by licensing, for immediate setting-up of compensation machin- ery by the use of insurance company indemnity bonds for every estate agent and salesman, and for the barring of restrictive practices which are against the public interest.
You will forgive me if I do not attempt to deal with the sundry red herrings thrown out by the sponsors, and trotted out in Leslie Adrian's article. We are quite content that the merits of the Bill should be judged on its sponsors' apparent distaste for the Courts, elections and the truth.
National Association of Estate Agents, 9 Ormond Close, WC1
P. M. LEIGH
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