Seanad debates

Wednesday, 16 June 2004

Housing (Stage Payments) Bill 2004: Second Stage.

 

3:00 pm

Photo of Brian HayesBrian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I commend the Bill to the House. The Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, is an accomplished Minister with a distinguished record in his Department and considerable experience in trying to help first-time buyers take their first step on the housing ladder. I ask him to take this Bill on to Committee Stage. There is no need for the House to divide on this matter. There is unanimous support for this pro-consumer measure that my colleague, Senator Coghlan, has so eloquently outlined. I commend the Senator for his endeavours in bringing this matter to the attention of the House.

It is frequently asked in the House what can be done for first-time buyers and young couples faced with difficult financial situations due to the price of housing. The truth is that the best way to control house prices is to have more supply, to build more houses as a means of stemming house price inflation. If this has been the general principle since the first Bacon report, there must be another part of the deal to ensure accountability in property transactions and in the way in which the building industry deals with those who are trying to take their first step on the housing ladder. The problem, which is only a problem in Munster, flies in the face of that deal and in the face of fairness and ordinary consumer rights for people who are making the most important choice and biggest financial commitment of their lives. The Minister of State would be well advised to accept the Bill on Second Stage, move it on to Committee Stage and bring forward the amendments he sees fit.

It is important for this House that this measure should be debated here because we have time available above and beyond the theatre which takes place in the Dáil. I was a Member of the Dáil for some years and believe the time-wasting there is as never before. The Seanad does not have the same wastage of time because Members are less party political. Therefore, we have a real obligation to do serious work in areas such as this and to reform out-dated anti-consumer practices by means of Private Members' Bills and good legislation from the Government side. It would be to the credit of the Minister of State and the Government if, in the course of his reply, he stated the Government would accept the Bill at Second Stage and, as all Members could be part of a Committee Stage debate, the House would then deal with the Bill as expeditiously as possible.

If the Government accepts Second Stage, it could bring forward Committee Stage completely at its own discretion. It is possible that more work needs to be done on the Bill although the net point is clear, as is the practice we are trying to outlaw. The Government should be generous in its response. The Seanad has the time to deal with legislation which the Dáil does not have. Too often, Bills are not properly debated in the other House due to the time-wasting and theatre that regularly occurs.

I was privileged to be my party's spokesperson on housing for two and a half years in the last Dáil. At that time, I brought forward a Bill to outlaw the practice of gazumping in the housing market. I readily admit it is a difficult issue to resolve and that my puritanical legislative response at that time was probably not adequate. However, the effect of bringing forward a Private Members' Bill led the Government to invite the Law Reform Commission to report on the practice of gazumping in the housing market. When the commission reported, not only did it give its view on the issue of gazumping but also on a range of anti-consumer practices that exist in the building industry and housing market. As far as I am aware, stage payments is one of the issues it reported on.

This is long overdue. The Law Reform Commission report was published four years ago but the Government has not responded. We are giving the Government an opportunity, in the context of this debate, to deliver the kind of response the commission made clear should be delivered for first-time buyers. I ask the Government to respond because many eminent bodies, including the Law Reform Commission, have highlighted this practice as unacceptable. If it is unacceptable in Dublin, Donegal and Galway, why are young house buyers in Munster subject to this anti-consumer practice? If there is one housing market, there should be one law for property transactions covering the rights and obligations of the purchaser and the vendor in all of those circumstances. This bad practice has existed for too long and it must be remedied through Senator Coghlan's Bill.

If I buy a new house on an estate in Dublin, I am asked to give 10% of the contract deposit up front, which is fair enough. The other 90% is given on completion, which is fair business practice. It is palpably unfair, however, to ask young people trying to buy a house in parts of the country to give the whole price of the house up front without even their living in it. That only adds to the cost of one of the most expensive decisions anyone will have to countenance in his or her life and it gives the builder additional money on which he earns interest.

This practice is unjust and I ask the Minister of State in his response to ensure we have one housing market that is well regulated, fair and accountable and that the Government will intervene in this minor area to ensure good consumer practice and to stand up to those people who are screwing young couples for thousands of euro they cannot afford at a time when they are trying to save money to buy a house. It would be a good day's work if this Bill was accepted.

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