HC Deb 16 February 1949 vol 461 cc1276-9

Furnished Houses (Rent Control) Act, 1946,

9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 34

"Section four— In paragraph (b) of Subsection (1), after the word 'renewal,' insert the words 'assignment, transfer.'

Section five—

For Section five there shall be substituted the following Section: 'If, before or after a contract to which this Act applies has been referred to a tribunal by the lessee or by the local authority (either originally or for reconsideration), a notice to quit the premises to which the contract relates has been or is served by the lessor on the lessee at any time before the decision of the tribunal is given or within three months thereafter and the period at the end of which the notice takes effect had not expired before the reference of the contract to the tribunal, the notice shall not take effect before the expiration of the said three months:

Provided that—

  1. (a) the tribunal may, if they think fit, direct that a shorter period shall be substituted for the said three months in the application of this Section to the contract that is the subject of the reference; and
    2. 1277
  2. (b) if the reference is withdrawn, the period during which the notice is not to take effect shall end on the expiration of fourteen days from the withdrawal of the reference.'

Section twelve— Subsection (4) shall not apply to accommodation registered after the passing of this Act for the purpose of Regulation 68CB of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939. The new Clause is coupled with the proposed Second Schedule, and I would ask you to allow me to deal with them together.

The Chairman

If the hon. Member is referring to the new Clause following the one which he is now moving, I must inform him that I have not been able to select it. It is quite inappropriate to this Bill.

Mr. Janner

This is a Bill dealing with the Act of 1946. The only type of Amendment which I am proposing is in precisely the same terms in regard to the 1946 Act as have already been proposed by the Minister in regard to the principal Acts. I would ask you to reconsider your decision, Major Milner, because it is a very material point. The assignment of properties which fall within the principal Acts is dealt with, but we are not going to deal with assignments of furnished houses, which are equally important, and must be protected if we are to have a comprehensive Measure. The other Clause also deals specifically with a point in relation to the 1946 Act, namely, that the tribunals have not the power to assess the rentals because they are being assessed or not being assessed by the local authorities. There can be no question that these matters come within the purview of the Bill.

The Chairman

I am not sure that I have altogether followed the hon. Member. It will be better if he would be good enough to confine himself to the first new Clause which stands in his name, and to the proposed Second Schedule, which apparently accompanies it.

Mr. Janner

I take it that I am being allowed to speak about the first new Clause in my name relating to the Act of 1946 and the Schedule? I am anxious in regard to that matter that we should have the provisions of the Furnished Houses (Rent Control) Act complying with the similar provisions in respect of the principal Acts relating to the stopping of premiums on assignments. In my view the principle was accepted by the Minister, after I had put down an Amendment to that effect, as one we ought to accept in relation to furnished lettings. The position with regard to furnished lettings at present is this. One cannot charge a premium at the time of letting, but a person who has taken a furnished letting can assign that furnished letting, and at the time of assignment can charge a premium in precisely the same way as the premium was chargeable in relation to the dwelling-houses which were outside the provisions of the principal Acts. The Minister has accepted the fact that this type of abuse should be remedied in relation to ordinary dwellings which are unfurnished, and I think that that should be extended to furnished houses covered by the Furnished Houses (Rent Control) Act.

Mr. Bevan

May I say to the hon. Member, and to the Committee, that there is no disposition on my part to quarrel with what he wants and I am prepared to concede its inclusion on Report stage.

Mr. Janner

There is only one other point in the Schedule and I think that perhaps the Minister will see his way to concede that as well. In regard to Section 12, it is stated: Subsection (4) shall not apply to accommodation registered after the passing of this Act for the purpose of Regulation 68CB of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939. The purpose of that is this. The owners of houses can sub-let separate furnished apartments under this particular regulation which are not controlled by the rent tribunals but which are supposed to be controlled, in so far as the rent is concerned, by the local authority. I do not think that there are a large number of them. If there are a number whether large or small, there are two separate bodies assessing the amount of rent that ought to be charged. On the one hand, there is the local authority, and on the other the rent tribunal. I am given to understand—the Minister will correct me if I am wrong—that very many of those lettings which were made under this provision have been registered by the local authority without the rent being raised. It seems to me in those circumstances that there is no longer any need for the rent tribunals not to have jurisdiction over these lettings, and I would ask the Minister to say that he will consider that point also.

Mr. Bevan

No, I cannot accept that point at all. It would be an entire breach of faith with many people who have shared their homes and registered with the local authority. To allow them to be reviewed by the tribunals would be a breach of faith, especially having regard to the fact that many good people came forward in 1945 and 1946 and shared their homes on condition that if they registered them with the local authorities no action would be taken. That is precisely what the hon. Member was putting before the Committee. I hope he will not pursue every small Lilliputian category of house to its last lair at 10 minutes past 10 at night. I have said that I do not consider that there is any real grievance in not giving the tribunals the right to review the lettings that have already been registered by the local authorities.

Mr. Tanner

I am prepared to concede that. Although the Minister did not realise it, I wanted this to apply to those premises to be registered after the passing of the Bill.

Mr. Bevan

That is a point so Lilliputian as to be almost non-existent.

Mr. Janner

In the circumstances, and on the Minister's statement, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Motion.

Motion and Clause, by leave, withdrawn.