Legislation to establish a new authority to regulate estate agents and auctioneers is to be brought to Government within the next month for approval.
The proposals provide for the creation of a property services regulatory authority, which will license those involved in selling property on a professional basis.
The Government is also to examine the possibility that the proposed authority will have a direct role in regulating property management services and companies, which have become a major source of contention in new housing developments.
The new authority will have the power to carry out investigations into specific complaints from the public about estate agents and auctioneers.
It will have a team of inspectors who will have the powers of inspection and access to estate agent files.
The proposed authority will have the power to impose sanctions, including the removal of an estate agent's licence, and to provide compensation to individuals with validated complaints.
Under the legislation, it will be a criminal offence to operate as an estate agent without a valid licence.
It is expected that the authority will be able to punish estate agents who publish false or misleading information in advertisements on houses, including size, average commuting times and proximity to schools and other services.
The legislation, which is being proposed by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, will not outlaw the practice of "gazumping", as it would be contrary to contract law.
Gazumping occurs when house sellers renege on a preliminary agreed house sale price and then increase the price further.
However, guidelines are expected to stipulate that there should be a home builders' "pledge" that conditionally agreed house prices will be adhered to.
It will also enshrine in legislation the "advised minimum value" as the only price that can be used in connection with a house sale. That price must be the "true opinion" of the selling agent.
Regulations relating to potential conflicts of interest for estate agents will also be included, and will require an estate agent to disclose any business or family connections to a seller or buyer in a property deal.
The new authority will also regulate property management agents, who look after communal areas in apartment blocks and estates.
The Department of the Environment has also asked the Department of Justice to consider expanding this to include regulation of property management companies, which are being established in many new property developments which include a mix of apartment blocks and regular houses.
Owners in these developments are required to pay an annual fee to the companies for maintenance of common areas.
Owners of the houses have been complaining that these common areas are normally the responsibility of the local authority in question, and that the management company system is being used to avoid common areas being transferred to local councils.
Problems with such companies, which are unregulated, has the potential of emerging as an electoral issue in a number of constituencies containing large, new urban developments.
Common complaints include the poor maintenance in some areas for the money paid by residents, residents being unaware that annual property management fees would be required when buying their new homes, and that the property management companies continue under the control of the developer rather than the residents.
A Law Reform Commission report on property management companies is expected in the coming months.
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche also briefed Cabinet colleagues on the issue last Tuesday, and is to bring forward detailed proposals on regulating the area in the coming months.
Local authorities have already been advised that the property management companies should not be allowed in planning permissions for new developments that consist only of houses.
However, Mr Roche's proposals are expected to fall short of an outright ban on property management fees for housing developments, which will still be allowed in developments that also contain apartment complexes.