Lifer Inmobiliaria closes its 10 offices in the Gran Canaria Province and "disappears off the face of the earth" - Page 3

Lifeline · 29-10-08, 23:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janet©

I think we'd all like to see licensing, but legislation already exists to ensure accountability. The problem is that with the best will in the world, the law is an empty threat if someone has scarpered and left the island. If criminal intent is there, no law is going to be enough, as has been demonstrated in the past ... and the fairly recent past at that.

Laws governing accountability in estate agency are extraordinarily limited... and rarely enforced. Examples too numerous to mention.

Legislation can clean up an industry. Look at insurance in the UK before and after the financial services act. It wasn't perfect, but it cleaned out thousands of cowboys. 'Best advice' was introduced and consumers received a much higher level of protection. Premiums and moneys held by brokers were covered by a mandatory insurance policy, so that even scarpering with the client's money was (is) covered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janet©

I don't honestly think that restoring buyer confidence is the answer either ... sorry Leslie, not disagreeing for the sake of it, honestly!

I think that the lack of confidence is precisely what Tenerife has been needing for far too long. People have been over-confident and consequence-disregarding, and daring beyond their means. I think it's boredom that's needed, as Mervyn King said in the BoE, not restored confidence to give a boom another shot. I think the boom times are the problem to a certain extent.

Nobody would disagree that a boom led by speculators is fragile and ultimately destructive. But I think that people have the right to feel confident that they are not being ripped off, that their money will not disappear into the sunset with their agent, that the agent has performed due diligence on developers they recommend... etc. This is a basic right, in my view, and a completely different issue from a speculator being confident that prices will rise.

So I suspect we are coming from the same direction, really. We have both simply interpreted the word 'confidence' in different ways. I certainly don't think a return to a property boom will do any good for anyone.