HC Deb 25 March 1919 vol 114 cc245-7

The Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (War Restrictions) Act, 1915 (hereinafter referred to as the "principal Act"), and the enactments amending that Act, shall continue in force until Lady Day, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, but during the period (hereinafter referred to as "the extended period") between the time when but for this Act the principal Act would have expired and the said Lady Day the principal Act shall have effect subject to the modifications contained in the two next succeeding Sections.

Lords Amendment: Leave out the words the time when but for this Act the principal Act would have expired, and insert instead thereof the words, Michaelmas Day, nineteen hundred and nineteen.

The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of EDUCATION (Mr. Herbert Fisher)

I beg to move "That this House doth disagree with the Lords in the said Amendment." The object of this Amendment is to substitute the fixed date, Michaelmas, 1919, for the uncertain date of six months after the conclusion of peace as the date from which the right to raise the rent by 10 per cent. commences. There are obvious advantages in the adoption of a definite and certain date in place of an indefinite and uncertain date, and this House when the Bill was being discussed in Committee did substitute Lady Day, 1921, for an uncertain date for the expiry of the Act. But I cannot advise the House to agree to this Amendment for this reason, that it involves a breach of the pledge given to tenants under the principal Act passed in 1915. That Act in fact informed the tenants who came under its protection that the rents would not be raised until six months after the conclusion of peace; consequently were we to accept this Amendment we should be depriving the tenants of the measure of protection which has been definitely promised under the Act of 1915. It is for this reason that the Government ask the House to disagree with the Amendment.

Mr. MARRIOTT

I very much regret to have heard the speech of the right hon. Gentleman. I had hoped that the Government would have seen their way to have accepted this purely elucidating Amendment. I do not want to argue it at any length, but I do suggest that the Amendment put in in another place is of very great importance simply on the ground that it would have removed one of the many elements of uncertainty which attach to the Bill, and would have opened up better prospects for both landlord and tenant.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir S. HOARE

I hope very much the Government will maintain the attitude assumed by the President of the Board of Education. The House had an opportunity of considering this point when the Bill was in Committee, and I see no reason for altering the view we then adopted. I very much regret that the other House has taken the action it has in inserting this and another Amendment, and I hope this House will adhere to the decision it came to after due deliberation.

Mr. ROWLANDS

I am pleased to hear that the Government intend to stand by the words in the original Act of 1915, be- cause, while it might have been better, in the first instance, to have put in a fixed date, we do not know how long the War is going to last, and the acceptance of this Amendment from another place would rob the existing tenant of at least three months' protection against a raising of his rent. If peace is declared in June, it would be possible for the landlord to raise the rent in September, whereas under our original proposal the tenant would have been protected until Christmas. Therefore I am glad the Government are opposing this Amendment.

Mr. T. GRIFFITHS

I too hope the Government will not accept this Amendment, because by so doing it would reduce the position of this House to a farce. We discussed this point thoroughly on both sides of the House, and I trust the Government will adhere to the Clause as passed in Committee.

Mr. CLEMENT EDWARDS

I congratulate the Government on the attitude it has taken up in regard to this Amendment.

Question put, and agreed to.