§ 58. Mr. Hammersleyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that when manufacturing premises are compulsorily closed in order to concentrate production, and are subsequently requisitioned, in assessing the compensation to be paid under the Compensation (Defence) Act, 1939, valuers on behalf of the Government seek to prove that these premises have little or no letting value 662 as manufacturing premises; and whether he will give instructions that this procedure be abandoned?
§ Sir K. WoodThe Compensation (Defence) Act, 1939, provides that the compensation payable in respect of the requisitioning of land shall be a sum equal to the rent which might reasonably be expected to be payable by a tenant in occupation of the land during the period for which possession of the land is retained, under a lease granted immediately before that period. When assessing the compensation rent payable in respect of a requisitioned factory, regard is accordingly had to all the circumstances existing at the time of the requisition which would affect the rent that a tenant might be expected to pay for the factory, including the fact that it could not be used for the production of the goods formerly manufactured there.