Opinions as to how the Consumer Protection Act will affect the relationships between home sellers and buyers, home sellers and their estate agents and even agents and buyers have recently been bandied about in the media and estate agency promotional literature – and there are still many varying interpretations.
In the circumstances Rawson Properties staff were interested recently to hear their managing director, Tony Clarke, say that a misinterpretation of the Act is now being encountered regularly – and, he added, it is being used opportunistically to generate extra work for a “new breed” in the home marketing sector; the home inspector.
Clarke said that a misinterpretation, which may or may not be deliberate, of the responsibility clauses causes sellers to believe that under the new Act, compensation and claims can be lodged with the seller for defects in the home which, although not evident at the time of the sale, become apparent thereafter.
“Obviously, if this is true,” said Clarke, “it would pay to have a thorough professional inspection and to put right any latent defects. However, it is not true: the new law, in my view, states clearly that in one-off transactions of this kind the seller is not seen as a part of the supply chain (and therefore culpable) unless the home is sold in the ordinary course of the seller’s business.”
A property developer, said Clarke, could, under the new Act be held culpable for any post-transfer defects because home building is part of his day to day activity – but the occasional seller of his own home is not in this category.
Home inspectors in his experience, said Clarke, will almost invariably find something needing repair in the home – and will charge high to rectify it but in many cases the defect is not serious and could have been left as it was.
Clarke said that home sellers should take the advice of a reputable estate agent on whether it is necessary to appoint a home inspector – in 90% of cases it will not be necessary.
He also, however, pointed out that the agent’s relationship with the seller is subject to the Consumer Protection Act, i.e. the agent is a “supplier” and the seller is a consumer. Agents have, therefore, to be very definite and clear about what service and pricing they offer. They have to avoid exaggeration or hype and they have to make sure the “consumer” (the seller) has fully understood all terms and conditions. Under the new dispensation the “ignorance” of the consumer has to be countered by the “educational” efforts of the agent.
