Government delays Homes Bill and hints it may water down unpopular provisions

The government has again bowed to pressure from the legal profession over its plan to compel vendors of residential property to provide a seller's pack - and has hinted that it may back down on some of the most unpopular provisions.Speaking at an event hosted by the multi-disciplinary Property Forum, Denis Purshouse, assistant policy adviser at the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR), said the Homes Bill had been put on the backburner because the government had more important things on its agenda.A DTLR spokesman confirmed that it might not be considered by Parliament again until as late as 2004, signifying another setback for the legislation, which was scuppered before the general election because of a lack of parliamentary time.Less controversial provisions were placed in the Homelessness Bill, currently before Parliament.Mr Purshouse said the DTLR would spend the time looking at issues including whether to replace the criminal sanctions attached to the failure to produce a seller's pack - branded 'draconian' by the Law Society - with civil alternatives.'[Housing minister] Lord Falconer is a pragmatist; he will have the job of steering the legislation through Parliament next time and has asked us to look at this again,' he said.

'We are not wedded to criminal sanctions and the government will consider alternatives, provided they are workable and do the job.'However, Mr Purshouse said the government was still committed to the inclusion of home condition reports in the packs, and was designing a new model for these.Russell Wallman, director of the Law Society's policy development unit, backed the delay of the Bill and the possibility of criminal sanctions being dropped.

'The government is quite rightly looking very carefully at the bits of the Bill that attracted overwhelming opposition in Parliament, particularly some of the provisions in the seller's pack,' he said.

However, Mr Wallman predicted that the Bill could still hit a brick wall if the government did not back down on home condition reports.

'The great majority in parliament thinks they are pointless and expensive and that buyers can't rely on them,' he warned.Paula Rohan