§ 61. Mr. Craven-Ellisasked the Minister of Health whether he has relieved landlords of their responsibility to pay rates and Schedule A in cases where tenants are allowed to keep furniture in houses for which the courts have relieved them of the payment of rent?
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health (Miss Horsbrugh)Where a landlord is responsible for the payment of rates, either under a resolution of the rating authority, or under an agreement to pay whether the premises are occupied or not, any question as to his liability in the circumstances mentioned would be a matter for the decision of the rating authority or, on appeal, the courts It is not one in which my right hon. Friend is empowered to intervene. As regards Income Tax, Schedule A, I am informed by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer that, in such a case as is referred to, relief would be given by reference to the rent from which the tenant is relieved.
§ Mr. Craven-EllisAm I to understand from the hon. Lady that a local authority may make a regulation providing that a landlord has to pay rates whether he is receiving rent or not, and that a 1398 court may reverse that decision and say that an occupier may continue to be occupying the house, as far as the furniture is concerned, although the tenant is living somewhere else, and the landlord is receiving no rent?
§ Miss HorsbrughIf the hon. Member will read the reply, he will see that the matter lies with the rating authorities, and that if the householder is dissatisfied, he can appeal to the courts.