§ 103. Mr. BRIANTasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department, as representing the Ministry of Health, if he is aware that a very large number of what are known as middle-class houses are now let to two, three, or four families, and that therefore the decontrol of houses of rents of over £50 per annum will affect the rents of persons in receipt of small incomes; and will he inquire into this matter?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSAs the hon. Member is, no doubt, aware, the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, 1920, applies to a part of a house which is let as a separate dwelling, and its application is governed by the amount of the standard rent or rateable value of the part and not by that of the whole house. Accordingly, in the case which the hon. Member has put, the consequences which he apprehends would not follow if the parts of the house which are separately let fall within the category of dwelling-houses which continue under control.