Press Release
New Rights For Home Buyers And Sellers
Last year Tom Clarke MP consulted Homeowners in a bid to establish their views when buying and selling a home. The MP is delighted that the Government has introduced extra protection for people in this process. All residential estate agents are now required to belong to a redress scheme by 1st October this year. These new arrangements will come into force in October 2008 and give greater powers to the Office of Fair Trading to remove rogue estate agents from the market, and increase the investigatory powers of enforcement officers.
Mr Clarke said: “People just assumed that estate agents were all registered and were shocked to discover the opposite was the case. Research commissioned by the OFT showed that 21% of sellers and 23% of buyers experience problems with estate agents. This was borne out to be very similar to the consultation process that I conducted. The Estate Agents Redress Act 2007 enables the Secretary of State by Order, to require estate agents who engage in residential estate agency work to join an approved redress scheme dealing with complaints from buyers and sellers of residential property. Responsibility for approving one or more redress schemes lies with the Office of Fair Trading”.
Poor People Need Help With Funeral Expenses
Local MP Tom Clarke initiated a Debate in the House of Commons where he urged the Government to intervene ending the shameful feelings of relatives who may have had the most unfortunate experience of having a member of their own family who was too poor to die.
The MP said: “We can fix almost anything where there is a determination to do so, but death is final. When a person dies, people are saddened; when a relative or a close friend dies, we are emotional - in many cases, absolutely devastated. When we are in such a state of shock and there is no money to bury a relative, we do not have time to grieve properly because we are anxious to avoid the embarrassing humiliation of a funeral without dignity. If I can be entirely open, people are not comfortable about discussing matters relating to death. I fully understand their reluctance to do so, as nothing is more emotive than bereavement. Making funeral arrangements is not a simple task: it is complex, but, more importantly, it is costly, and ever increasingly so”.