merrion street

 Justice Minister,  Alan Shatter, has welcomed Dáil approval of the Property Services (Regulation) Bill 2009, and said it would introduce much-needed transparency to the residential and commercial property markets.  This was a commitment in the Programme for Government which he was pleased to be in a position to discharge in this legislation.

The Minister said

“I believe that publication of residential property sales prices and the establishment and maintenance of the Commercial Leases Database by the Property Services Regulatory Authority will help to restore much-needed confidence to the property market.

Together with the new statutory requirement on auctioneers to publish a realistic "advised market value" of property for sale rather than using the discredited "guide price" mechanism, the legislation will serve to enhance consumer protection and improve consumer confidence.”

 The Minister said that he had also introduced new provisions to address the potentially serious conflict of interests which can arise where an auctioneer promotes an apparently attractive loan package to intending purchasers without revealing that the financial institution providing the loan had already funded the development (or was prepared to fund the development where housing units were being sold from plans).

 The Minister added

“This conflict of interest has arisen in particular in the case of multi-unit developments where a financial institution has had links with the developer and sought to reduce its exposure to risk by assembling what appeared to be an attractive loan package for intending purchasers.  Purchasers who availed of the package ended up paying ‘over the odds’ for the property.”

Having completed its passage through the Dáil, the Bill will now return to the Seanad for consideration of Dáil amendments; the Minister said he was confident that the legislation would be enacted before the end of the year.