HC Deb 26 July 1935 vol 304 cc2200-2

Lords Amendment: In page 27, leave out lines 6 to 12, and insert: (3) In section ninety of the Act of 1925 the following subsection shall be inserted after subsection (2): '(2A) An advance for any of the purposes specified in subsection (1) of this section shall be secured with interest thereon by mortgage of the land and dwelling-houses in respect of which that purpose is to be carried out and of such other land and dwelling-houses (being houses which have been constructed or made suitable for the working classes by the company, society, association or person receiving the advance) if any as may be offered as security for the advance. (4) In the said section ninety the following subsection shall be substituted for subsection (5):

12.18 p.m.

Sir K. WOOD

I beg to move "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."

This Amendment is designed to remove a small anomaly which arises out of Section 90 of the 1925 Act. That Section enables the Public Works Loan Board to advance money to a housing association for the purpose of constructing working class houses. Sub-section (4) of Section 90 sets out the conditions, and one of those conditions is that where the advance is secured by a mortgage on land or houses solely, the advance is not to exceed two-thirds of the value of the land or houses to be mortgaged. This has been interpreted as meaning that the advance is not to exceed two-thirds of the value of the houses to be constructed, and in practice it means that an association can only offer as security the actual land and the houses for the construction of which they need the advance. In some cases this has resulted in a hardship to a housing association. For example, a housing association might have sufficient capital to build, say, 10 houses, and may proceed to build those 10 houses. Having built them, they might find that it was desirable that they should have built twice that number of houses. If they had gone to the Public Works Loan Board in the first instance with a proposal to build the 20 houses, they would have been able to get a sufficient advance to enable them to complete the 20 houses. As it is, however, having finished 10 houses, the Public Works Loan Board can only consider the 10 about to be erected, with the result that very often the association cannot obtain from them a sufficient advance to enable them to complete their scheme. This Amendment will enable the Public Works Loan Board to take into account, when considering the amount of an advance to a housing association, any working class houses already erected by that association which can be offered as part security for the advance. I think Members in all parts of the House will consider that that is a reasonable Amendment.

Mr. SPEAKER

This Amendment raises a question of Privilege.

Question put, and agreed to. [Special entry.]

Lords Amendment: In page 27, line 30, leave out "a mortgage of any land or dwelling-houses" and insert such a mortgage as is mentioned in subsection (2A) of this section".

Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."—[Sir K. Wood.]

Mr. SPEAKER

This is consequential upon the last Amendment, and equally raises a question of Privilege.

Question put, and agreed to. [Special entry.]

Subsequent Lords Amendments to page 32, line 14, agreed to.