I move amendment No. 269:
In page 57, subsection (1), to delete lines 17 to 20 and substitute the following:
"105. (1) A mortgage agent shall ensure that
(a) an information document,
(b) an application form for a housing loan, or
(c) any document approving a housing loan,
shall include the following notice:".
The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that culpability in the case of a breach will lie with the mortgage agent. Placing the onus on the agent helps raise the offence in section 12, as amended. This amendment, and many of the other provisions we are making focus on the culpability of a particular person so that if there is an offence it can be traced to the culpable person.
Amendment No. 271 seeks to insert the following: "A mortgage agent shall ensure that," before "Where". This is a substitution for amendment No. 271. Its purpose is similar to the purpose of amendment No. 269 and places the onus on a mortgage agent to ensure that any documentation issued for information on variable rate loans shall state, following the notice required on subsection (1), that the payment rates on the housing loan may be adjusted by the lender from time to time. These warning notices are in keeping with the emphasis on full disclosure of the facts to the consumer so as to enable him or her to make an informed decision.
The warning regarding the variable payment rates is of particular relevance where the consumer may be committing himself or herself to paying them. The consumer should be told rates can fluctuate and that he should not enter into further credit agreements because he could overstretch himself and that failure to keep up payments could result in loss of one's home. It is interesting to note that section 105 states: "WARNING — YOUR HOME IS AT RISK IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP PAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR ANY OTHER LOAN SECURED ON IT.".
The purpose of amendment No. 278, is to ensure, as in a number of other cases, that the person responsible for carrying out the task is named. This is to tidy up the legal side of things.
The purpose of amendment No. 279 is to identify the person who should carry out the function provided for in the section. This focuses again on culpability.