HC Deb 10 July 1939 vol 349 cc2015-8

Lords Amendment: In page 79, line 1, after "lease" insert: references to every lease derived from the estate or interest of an owner shall be construed as references to every lease granted by an owner and every sublease of the whole or any part of the premises subject to such leases; 'mortgage' means a heritable security and 'mortgagee' means the creditor in a heritable security.

2.49 a.m.

The Lord Advocate (Mr. T. M. Cooper)

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

This is a drafting Amendment to translate the language into Scottish legal terms.

Subsequent Lords Amendments to page 81, line 7, agreed to.

Lords Amendment: In page 81, line 28, after "purposes" insert "of Section ten and."

The Lord Advocate

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

This is one of several Amendments dealing with the case of Scottish law relating to tenements, parts of which are in separ- ate ownership and on separate floors. The effect of applying Clause 10 is that the owners, jointly and severally, will have the powers conferred by Clause 10.

Subsequent Lords Amendment, in page 82, line 32, agreed to.

Lords Amendment: In page 82, line 37, at the end, insert: (5) Where a notice has been served in pursuance of Section sixteen of this Act on the owners of such a building as aforesaid, any one of such owners may, in default of agreement among them as to the execution of the works in pursuance of the notice, himself execute the works, and for the purpose of so doing shall have the like powers and immunities as are conferred by this Part of this Act on the owners jointly and severally, and the expenditure incurred by him in so doing shall for the purpose of this Section be deemed to be expenses of the owners.

The Lord Advocate

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

This Amendment also is designed to meet the case of the Scottish tenement and to enable any one of a number of owners to carry out a notice served in the case of a commercial building upon the owners.

Subsequent Lords Amendments to page 87, line 9, agreed to.

Lords Amendment: In page 87, line 33, at the end, insert:

"In Section sixty-six for Sub-section (3) there shall be substituted the following Sub-Section: '(3) Where a heritable creditor in possession is for the purposes of this Act the owner of any commercial building or any such building or block of buildings as aforesaid, it shall be competent for the local authority to make, on his application, a charging order in his favour charging and burdening the building or block of buildings with an annuity to repay to him any money reasonably expended by him for the purpose of providing air-raid shelter in connection with the building or block or complying with any obligation imposed on him by or under this Act as owner of the building or block in like manner as they may make a charging order in favour of an owner under Section twenty-one of the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1925, and the provisions of Sections twenty-one and twenty-two of that Act shall apply accordingly subject to the following and any other necessary modifications: An annuity constituted a charge by a charging order made under this Sub-section shall rank pari passu with the heritable security in virtue of which the heritable creditor is in possession of the building or block.'

The Lord Advocate

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

The new Clause which was accepted by the House a few minutes ago in relation to the powers of trustees and liquidators has certain consequential provisions adding to the security of a mortgagee. Unfortunately the Scottish law regarding securities makes it impossible to attach those provisions in the precise form of the Clause relating to England. Instead of doing so, however, it is proposed in this Clause to achieve much the same result by enabling a charging order to be obtained by a creditor in possession, or in English wording, the mortgagee in possession, who has incurred expenses in connection with air-raid precautions. The effect of this Clause is substantially to achieve the same result.

2.54 a.m.

Mr. Gallacher

I want to ask the Lord Advocate whether he will now face up to the question which arises on this Clause. It will be competent for the local authority on his application to make a charging order in his favour, charging the building or block of buildings with an annuity. That means that this block of buildings is going, as a consequence of this, to be increased in value for all the purposes of raising money. It is going to increase the value of the property. How is it then that the tenant has to pay for something which is going to increase the value of the property for the owner?

The Lord Advocate

The hon. Member for West Fife (Mr. Gallacher) is in error in assuming that this Clause has anything to do with the liability of the tenant. This Clause is a translation into the appropriate Scottish form of the Lords Amendment on page 9 of the Order Paper and deals with the case where a mortgagee in possession has been obliged, let me assume, by a notice served by a local authority, to incur expenditure on someone else's property. The reason for each Clause is that if he is to do that he wants to get his money back. In England he adds the amount of expenditure to his security. We cannot do that but we can make him apply to the local authority for a charging order which will enable him to get his money back in the same way.

Mr. Gallacher

Is it not the case that the property is actually increased in value?

The Lord Advocate

No doubt it is, and it is for that very reason that it seems unfair that one man should be obliged to spend money in order to increase the value of another person's property.

Mr. Gallacher

If the mortgagee increases the value of the property of the landlord why should the tenant have to pay?

Remaining Lords Amendments agreed to; [One with Special Entry.]