I was about to get involved in another subsection in section 6 when we reached 11.28 a.m. and I opted to begin on it now rather than then. It is in relation to the question of the valuer's report being made available to the mortgagee by the building society — the report prepared for the building society which up to now has not been available to the mortgagee. I hope the Minister will ensure that it will be made available once this Bill is law. I want to acquaint the Minister, if he is not already aware, of the position relating to these reports to building societies.
As I made clear in my Second Stage speech on this Bill, I am the nominee of the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute in this House. They nominated me onto the industrial and commercial panel and the public representatives of Ireland elected me. I had to be elected to my nominating body. The reports going to building societies come essentially from two different professional groupings. They come from either architects or auctioneers. They do not come exclusively from either one or the other. The Minister will appreciate that, if an architect goes out to view a property for the purpose of advising the building society as to value, he may or may not be acquainted with the market value of houses in any city or town. His profession and expertise are as an architect. Where he is sent out to advise on the extension to the house or the condition of the house, that might be more appropriate where it relates to the architect. When the valuer goes out he is normally part of a practice which engages in buying, selling and regularly advising on the value of property in the house market. Therefore, to the extent of his remit, which would not extend to advising on extensions and improvements to a house, he might have a good idea of how it should be done, but he is not the all-time expert on that because that is the architect's role. The valuer is the person who is most acquainted with the value and the architect is most acquainted with the condition of the house. The architect will even be prepared to admit that he is not necessarily the expert on structures. If there is real structural failure in a house that is more the remit of a structural engineer rather than that of an architect or a valuer.
To what extent will the issue of this valuation report be helpful to the mortgagee because it will come from two different groupings of professions? It is not tight enough in the sense that it talks about a valuer's report, but perhaps that valuer's report should be linked in to those engaged in the practice of valuing. I do not necessarily mean members of the institute of which I am a member but those who are engaged in full time practice as people who are available to the public to advise and value. The Minister may retort that if you are going around long enough and often enough as an architect you will know the value. Sometimes with the fluctuating market that can occur, it is difficult for a professional valuer to be sure of the value he is recommending to the building society. Perhaps I will return to that point when the Minister has had an opportunity to reply.