§ 92. Mr. LLEWELLYN-JONESasked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called by the Hawarden Rural District Council, in the County of Flint, to the different rents paid by occupiers of houses on contiguous sites at Saltney, in the rural district, under the 1919 and 1924 Acts, respectively; whether he is aware that much dissatisfaction exists among tenants of the houses erected under the earlier Act on account of the fact that they are paying higher 666 rents than the rents paid for similar houses erected under the 1924 Act; and whether, having regard to the hardship suffered by the tenants of the former houses, he will consider the advisability of taking steps to authorise the local authority to reduce the rents of the houses erected under the earlier Act?
§ Mr. GREENWOODI understand that the rents charged for the houses at East Saltney erected by the Hawarden Rural District Council with financial assistance under the Housing Act of 1924 are 6s. 3d. for non-parlour type and 8s. 9d. for parlour type, and these rents have been determined by the council as representing approximately the average rents prevailing in the district for pre-War houses. The agreed rents for the 1919 Act houses are 6s. 6d.and 9s. The prescribed methods of fixing rents differ in respect of the two Acts, the main difference being that for houses under the 1919 Act regard must be had to any superiority of such houses in accommodation, construction or amenities as compared with houses previously built in the district, but if my information is correct, the difference in rent in this case is trifling only.