HC Deb 05 June 1947 vol 438 cc413-5
Colonel Clarke (East Grinstead)

I beg to move, in page 18, line II, after "may," to insert: after giving not less than seven days' notice in writing. The Minister does not take action under this Clause unless the owner concerned has either failed to start farming the land himself as instructed, or has failed to re-let it following the dispossession of the former tenant. The Minister has to give not less than three months' notice to the dispossessed tenant, and following the dispossession order, the owner may apply to the Minister for permission to take the land in hand and farm it himself. The Minister may, of course, refuse that application. The point I want to emphasise is that the submission of the application, its consideration and its refusal may take a considerable time, say, six weeks. That will allow the owner only a further six weeks in which to obtain another tenant. That is not very long, and there may be several prospective tenants. The farmer may have to go to see their holdings and do all the other things that any one who is taking a new tenant needs to do, such as seeing the land which a prospective tenant is farming at present, obtaining references, and so on. Again, it may be late in the season, when tenants tend to drive a hard bargain, and the owner may not be able to come to terms with them, particularly if they know that he is in difficulties because, through no fault of his own, there is an order hanging over the land.

In these circumstances the owner may be in a very invidious position, and it seems reasonable that the final act in the drama should not come like a bolt from the blue, but that at least a week's notice should be given that the time of grace is over and that the Minister intends to take over the land. As the provision stands at present, it is fairly wide. Supposing there were quite a small matter to be tied up—perhaps two tenants still on the short list, and a choice to be made between them. As the Clause is drafted, the landlord would have no time at all. I think it would be in the interests of everybody, including the Minister, that the owner should have this extra week. It would give him the little time that is required to wind up the business finally and to have matters confirmed. Therefore, I hope that this Amendment, which I think a very reasonable one and one which is in the interests of everybody, may receive favourable consideration.

4.45 p.m.

Mr. H. Fraser

I beg to second the Amendment.

Mr. T. Williams

Clause 18 provides that where an occupier is dispossessed under Clause 17, and the owner has made no satisfactory arrangements to farm the land by the time he leaves the holding, the Minister may take possession. As the hon. and gallant Gentleman has just explained, the purpose of this Amendment is to give the landowner seven days more in which to find a tenant. I cannot quite understand the attitude of the hon. and gallant Gentleman in asking for the further seven days. After all, the tenant cannot be dispossessed for three months after the decision has been taken, and, therefore, the landowner has the three months in which to find a new tenant. Surely, if any landlord were endeavouring to find a tenant and there were a few odd days—perhaps a week, or even a fortnight—a county executive committee would hardly take possession of the farm The landlord would be certain to be in close touch with the county executive committee and would tell them if he had a certain tenant in mind. The short period in dispute might be eight days, which would be one more than the hon. and gallant Gentleman has suggested, so that his Amendment would not cover such a case I ask him, therefore, to rely first of all on the three months' notice which the landlord receives, and, secondly, on the wisdom of the landlord himself working in harmony with the county executive committee. I see no reason for allowing the extra seven days.

Colonel Clarke

I tried to make the point that the period might not be three months. If the owner had applied to be allowed to farm the land himself, it might be cut down to six weeks. However, if the Minister will give me an assurance that the knife is not coming down at about 24 hours' notice—that on receiving this second notice the owner will be able to go to the local agricultural committee and say, "I want only a few more days; I have two prospective tenants on the short list; I saw the farm of one of them on Tuesday and I am going to see the other next week, and then I shall be in a position to say which I have chosen"—and if he will say that he will not be absolutely hard and fast about this, I shall be prepared to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.

Mr. T. Williams

I can assure the hon. and gallant Member that county executive committees must be reasonable both with landlords and tenants, otherwise the whole goodwill on which the Bill is based will be lost.

Colonel Clarke

In view of that assurance, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn