Bill packs a punch

SELLING PROPERTY: Napier slams criminal threat over surveys

Lawyers have reacted angrily to the announcement in the Queen's Speech that the Homes Bill will include a criminal sanction against any property seller who fails to include a survey in the proposed sellers' pack.Law Society President Michael Napier said: 'It is unthinkable that the criminal law should be used in this way to interfere with ordinary transactions between citizens such as selling a house.' He said that the proposals were incomplete and unclear as to the circumstances in which criminal sanctions would apply.

Rosie Cowlie, president of the Institute of Legal Executives, said: 'Criminal sanctions are not appropriate for what is, after all, a private transaction.' Brian Marson, chairman of Bromley law firm Marsons, who has advised government about the packs, said: 'There have to be penalties, but it is difficult to see why people's rights should be affected by something they fail to do.'However, Anthony Ruane, head of Addleshaw Booth & Co's Leeds-based property division, Enact, said: 'There must be a sanction.

Sellers could be given a fine that makes it more costly for them not to prepare proper sellers' packs.'Jeremy Fleming