Independent review launched into housing market

Thursday 18th October 2007

An independent review has been established to scrutinise the residential property market.

The Carsberg Review of Residential Property - carried out by Sir Bryan Carsberg, a former director general of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) – is sponsored by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) and will examine the standards and regulations of the domestic residential market.

Industry bodies, consumers, the government and other stakeholders will all be invited to air their views on the subject with the finding made public.

It is hoped the review will be considered when shaping future policy for the residential property market.

"Recent government initiatives raise interesting questions about attitudes to the residential property market," commented Sir Bryan. "The frameworks surrounding home information packs (Hips) and energy performance certificates (EPC) have introduced significant new regulatory and redress structures into relatively low risk aspects of the property transaction while leaving consumers in other parts of the sector, that may carry higher risks, apparently exposed.

"This contrasts with the government’s approach to regulation elsewhere – particularly in the financial sector – where a more holistic approach to the control of risk has been adopted.

" The deadline for responses falls on January 7th 2008 and more information can be found on the Rics website.

Source www.AboutProperty.co.uk .