Amidst the political chaos and miscalculations of the last 72 hours, we may have missed on Wednesday the tabling of amendments to the Property Services (Regulation) Bill which will give effect to both a House Price Database and a Commercial Lease Database, the former being called for since at least 1973 and the latter being recommended during last Summer. The former Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern gave a commitment to introduce amendments in the Dail session which concluded before Christmas, which would give effect to the HPD. He failed in delivering that commitment.
But better late than never. However the amendments published on Wednesday last are laughably brief but more significantly with this present Dail on its last legs and with a priority to deal with the Finance Bill and a number of other Bills and amendments (NAMA was mentioned by An Taoiseach today but it is not clear what amendment is needed to NAMA to enable the agency to absorb €0-20m loan exposures at AIB and Bank of Ireland. Are other unannounced changes envisaged for NAMA’s remit?), it seems unlikely that the Bill will become law for a few months at least. So although we may now at last have some draft legislation, the betting would be that it will be the next administration that will take this matter forward.
Of note is the amendment also seeks to give effect to a new Commercial Lease Database which would assist with price discovery in the commercial sector.
For completion there were five amendments tabled to the Property Services (Regulation) Bill last week and they were as follows:
(1) Labour – penalties for non-compliance (mostly relating to managing agents)
(2) FG – ethical standards (mostly relates to managing agents)
(3) Government – details of HPD and Commercial Lease Database
(4) Government – definitions and constitution of the Property Registration Authority of Ireland
(5) Government – ethics and managing agents
For all the background to the House Price Database there is a dedicated page here.
NAMA Wine Lake 