McCreevy hints at EU mortgages
Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy
INTERNAL Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has said there "may well be a case" for allowing mortgage brokers to sell their products throughout the EU.
He made his comments on Saturday night at the annual convention of the estate agents' body IPAV, which also heard the IPAV president call on the Government to overhaul the system for landlord registrations.
Mr McCreevy told the gathering that the Commission was in the midst of carrying out a study of credit intermediaries.
"While I do not want to anticipate the outcome of that study, there may well be a case for creating a passport for mortgage brokers to enable them to sell and provide advice on mortgage products across the member states," he said.
IPAV chief executive Fintan McNamara told the Irish Independent that the development of pan-European mortgages would greatly benefit Irish estate agents.
Property
"We're an arm's length away from mortgage brokers, but anything that makes it easier for people to buy property abroad is obviously good news for us," he said.
Meanwhile, IPAV president Sean Mason told the assembled estate agents that the current system for registering landlords and tenancies with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) needs a major overhaul.
He said that landlords and tenants were now having to wait an average of eight months for disputes to be resolved by the PRSB, as the board had to deal with a massive volume of work created by registrations.
"A solution I would offer today is that the registration process should be transferred to the local authorities and the dispute resolution remain with the PRTB," he said.
He said the obligation to register all tenancies was "unnecessary and unwieldly". "Many landlords have to register tenancies three of more times a year in the same unit of accommodation and that incurs costs of at least €140 in addition to the considerable paperwork involved," he said. "A requirement to register a rented unit once every four years for an agreed fee is a practical solution."
- Laura Noonan
