Rent Bill

HC Deb 07 March 1957 vol 566 cc505-6

Mr. Collins

With your permission, Mr. Speaker, I beg to present a humble petition, signed by some 16,000 of the citizens of the Boroughs of Shoreditch and Finsbury.

The Petition states that there are in the area 7,000 families suffering from bad housing conditions to whom the local authorities can offer no hope of rehousing for many years to come. Despite this, the Rent Bill grants power to the landlords to serve notice to quit on 5,000 of these families. It is felt that this and other provisions of the Bill will cause misery and hardship on a scale impossible to bear. Wherefore, your petitioners pray that the Bill be so amended that tenants shall not be evicted from their homes unless equivalent alternative accommodation is provided; that rents shall not be increased unless dwellings are in good habitable repair with reasonable amenities and that, in default of these amendments, the Bill shall be rejected. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. I beg you, Mr. Speaker, to instruct the Clerk of the House to read this petition to the House.

The CLERK OF THE HOUSE read the Petition, which was as follows: To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great, Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The Humble Petition of the under-signed citizens of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Shoreditch and Finsbury

SHEWETH That in this area there are more than 7,000 families to whom, despite the serious overcrowding and unsatisfactory housing conditions from which they suffer, the local authorities can offer no hope of rehousing for many years to come. Further that the privately rented houses, all occupied by two or more families and built during the last century, ate mostly in a condition of decay beyond hope of restoration by private landlords. In these conditions the proposals of H.M. Government, in the Rent Bill now before Parliament,

1. (a) To grant powers to the owners of nearly one third of these houses, to serve on the occupants, comprising some 5,000 families, notice to quit, or of rent increases without statutory limit, without any guarantee of necessary repairs.
2. (b) To serve on the occupants of the remaining houses notice of rent increase, exceeding in many cases 20/0d. a week.

will inflict misery, hardship, and disruption of family life on a scale impossible to bear. WHEREFORE your Petitioners pray that the Bill be so amended that tenants shall not be evicted from their homes unless equivalent alternative accommodation is provided; that rents shall not be increased unless dwellings are in good habitable repair with reasonable amenities; and that in default of these amendments the Bill shall be rejected. And your Petitioners, as in duty hound, will ever pray, &c.

To lie upon the Table.