§ Mr. JOHNSTONI beg to move, in page 6, line 39, to leave out the words "repairs thereto," and to insert instead thereof the words "works thereon."
This is a verbal Amendment. Works required for the purpose of rendering a house fit for human habitation under Part II of the Bill may not be limited to repairs, and therefore the expression used should be "works thereon" instead of "repairs thereto." Generally, the works will be in the nature of repairs, but this may not be so in every case.
§ 6.0 p.m.
§ Major ELLIOTThis Amendment extends the liability of the owners. It may be right that this liability should be extended, but in all these cases we are extending the burden which will fall upon the owners. Therefore, it is very necessary for us to take note of these things, because it is by a process of small additional burdens like this that property owning becomes unremunerative, and has become so in Scotland. We are finding ourselves in a position where private enterprise has disappeared in Scotland, and though we have more municipal housing enterprise in Scotland than in England, our position, measured by new houses, is worse. It is so, in fact; but we will develop that point at another stage of the Bill. There is a danger in piling too much on to the shoulders of property owners, because it eventually leads to a position in which even repairs are not carried out, and the property falls into such disrepair that the last state of the tenants is worse than the first.
§ Mr. JOHNSTONI trust that the hon. and gallant Member will retain his political perorations for the Third Reading. He knows that this is merely a drafting Amendment, and that Clause 14 defines very carefully the limitations which are imposed upon the owners.
§ Amendment agreed to.