Rent Act

HC Deb 11 February 1958 vol 582 cc172-80

2. Mr. Lipton

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether, in view of the number of notices of evictions under the Rent Act, 1957, given since December and due to be effected in London next October, he will introduce amending legislation to postpone these evictions until alternative accommodation is available.

29. Dr. King

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs, in view of instances in the past two months of threats of eviction next October to old-age pensioners who have lived in rented houses for over twenty years because they have refused to buy their houses, if he will introduce legislation to amend the Rent Act, 1957, in order to prevent such evictions.

Mr. H. Brooke

Service of notice to quit does not necessarily mean that the tenant will not still be able to make a new agreement with his landlord. I recognise that some old people, particularly those who are occupying rented houses which are too large for them, may require to move, but I am not convinced that it will necessarily be impossible for them to find alternative accommodation. I have further suggested to local authorities ways in which they can help old people who may have to move and who cannot find alternative accommodation for themselves.

Mr. Lipton

Where has the Minister got the crazy idea from that sufficient alternative accommodation will be available to rehouse evicted London families in October? Is the right hon. Gentleman not aware that quite a volume of public opinion may sympathise with tenants who barricade their homes in October rather than be thrown on to the streets? The Minister is going to be the most hated man in Britain before he is very much older.

Mr. Brooke

I am concerned to do what I believe to be right. I have already informed the House that I believe that the number of people who will actually have to leave their homes by October will be very very small as compared with the figures that are being bandied about nowadays.

Mr. Lipton

Rubbish.

Mr. Cooper

Is my right hon. Friend aware that many of the problems that are likely to arise in October could be solved now if he would authorise the Public Works Loan Board to make funds available to local authorities for house purchase without insisting on their first going to the market?

Mr. Brooke

A local authority which desires to raise funds for housing purposes or any other purpose should first go to the market, and if it cannot raise a loan in the market at a reasonable rate of interest it can then apply to the Public Works Loan Board. That has been the position since 1955.

Mr. Shinwell

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that some cases have been notified where tenants, although willing to pay an increased rent, have been told that the landlord refuses to accept any new agreement with an increased rent and that they are to be evicted? Was it the intention of the right hon. Gentleman, when he introduced this legislation, that some tenants willing to pay increased rents and to enter new agreements would be evicted? Will he do something about that?

Mr. Brooke

I have advised tenants never to accept the first communication from the landlord as the final one but to seek professional advice and enter negotiations with the landlord. I well realise that in some cases either the landlord may need vacant possession of the property for some good purpose or it may not be possible to reach a satisfactory outcome to the negotiations, but I repeat that the number of people who will have to leave their homes and will not be able to make arrangements for satisfactory alternative accommodation will be very small in relation to the figures now being talked about.

Mr. Jay

Can the Minister say what is the proper advice for a London Member of Parliament to give to constituents threatened with eviction in October who ask him what they can do?

Mr. Brooke

The first advice to give them is to seek negotiation with their landlord and to take professional advice on the course of those negotiations.

8. Mr. Lewis

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he is aware that there are many people who have more than one house and/or flat for personal occupation; and whether he will introduce the necessary legislation to ensure that such people will only be able to claim one such establishment as their place of residence, making over their additional accommodation to the appropriate local authority for use by these authorities to rehouse families rendered homeless by the Rent Act, 1957.

Mr. H. Brooke

The hon. Member's proposal seems to me wholly impracticable.

Mr. Lewis

Whether it is impracticable or not, is it not a fact that hundreds of thousands of tenants have been and are receiving notices of eviction? Is it not immoral for the Minister to arrange for the eviction of those people while thousands of people have one, two, three or four homes? Would it not be better and easier to give some of those homes to evicted people so that they might have a roof over their heads?

Mr. Brooke

I am well aware that a number of hon. Members have more than one home, but I think this would be a clumsy and impracticable method of proceeding. I would remind the hon. Member that local authorities have power to make compulsory purchase orders if they wish.

9. Mr. Lewis

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will give the reasons why his records do not permit him to give the number of persons who have protested against the Rent Act, 1957; and if he will also give the reasons which prevent his Department from having an investigation and examination made of the 1,800 letters he has received on this subject to ascertain the number who have expressed themselves in support of, and against, this Act, respectively.

Mr. H. Brooke

No running record has been kept classifying the letters, and some indeed would defy classification. To undertake an analysis now would take a great deal of time to no purpose except to show that the Rent Act is a Measure on which different people hold different views; and that is known already.

Mr. Lewis

Has the Minister seen his local paper, which gives thousands of cases of people being evicted without any alternative of negotiating? Will he look at that? If it is a question of finding time, will he let me have the 1,800 letters, as I can assure him that I can distinguish between those which are for him and those which are against him and put a suitable Question on the Order Paper so that hon. Members may know the result?

Mr. Brooke

I can certainly inform the House that all the letters I have received from the hon. Member have been definitely against the Rent Act.

23. Mrs. Butler

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will consult the Minister of Health and the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance with a view to introducing some protection against eviction under the Rent Act, 1957, of persons crippled by poliomyelitis or other disabilities.

Mr. H. Brooke

I am afraid that it would not be practicable to distinguish between classes of decontrolled tenants in the way suggested. But any disabled tenant who receives notice to quit should make certain that the landlord knows all the circumstances, and I hope that it will usually be possible to arrange a renewal of the tenancy. If any such tenant does have to move, I am sure he will get sympathetic treatment from the local authority.

Mrs. Butler

Is the Minister aware that there are such cases, where the tenants have given all the facts and information to the landlords and yet are still given notices to quit? Is he also aware that in many cases they have erected garages or sheds for housing vehicles, or otherwise adapted their premises to their disability, and that it is a particular hardship to be evicted? Will not he examine the extent of the problem to see what protection he can give to these people who have received quite enough cruel blows without this additional one being inflicted upon them?

Mr. Brooke

In any such case, if the landlord knows the facts and is still not prepared to withdraw the notice to quit, I should strongly advise the disabled person to contact the local welfare authority.

Mr. Mitchison rose

—

Mr. Speaker

Order. Let us get on.

24. Mr. Dodds

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will cause an investigation to be made into the excessive rents now being asked in respect of decontrolled houses with a view to taking action to obviate grave hardship whilst there is still a housing shortage.

55. Mr. Blenkinsop

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will so amend the Rent Act, 1957, as to provide some security of tenure and a right of appeal against extortionate rents being charged in cases where tenants take up new tenancies of property in a bad state of repair.

Mr. H. Brooke

I do not think such action is needed. The fact is that the great majority of landlords are not asking excessive rents. Tenants, if they are in doubt, should take expert advice and should refuse to pay more than what they are advised is a reasonable market rent having regard to the condition of the property. If they do that landlords who ask too much will have to reduce their figures or else risk being left with their property empty.

Mr. Dodds

Is not the right hon. Gentleman aware that, unless he takes some action before 1st October, many elderly people will be forced to get out of houses in which they have lived for many years because they cannot afford the rent, with all the misery that this entails? Does not the Minister appreciate that unless he changes his present cold-blooded attitude to this problem he will go down in history as the Minister of Evictions?

Mr. Brooke

No, Sir. My attitude is not cold-blooded. I say once again that I am quite certain that the great majority of these cases will be found to be soluble, and I have specially asked the local authorities to give their attention to the cases of old people when difficulties arise.

Mr. Blenkinsop

Does the Minister not recognise that many people are being swindled into accepting exchanges of houses purely in order that the landlords can acquire the right to charge any kind of rent without any security at all, and will he not at least give some advice to tenants to draw the danger of this situation to their attention?

Mr. Brooke

This is the most valuable place of all in which to issue advice, and the advice I have given repeatedly through the House of Commons is that everyone affected should seek expert advice before taking any decision.

26. Mrs. Butler

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he has considered the resolution of the Wood Green Council, a copy of which has been sent to him, which authorises negotiation for the purchase by the council of properties from which tenants are under notice to quit following the passing of the Rent Act, 1957; and what reply he has given.

Mr. H. Brooke

This resolution, which was passed on 27th November last, was not sent to me until I asked for it after the hon. Member put down her Question. The resolution does no more than authorise the collection of information about tenants under notice to quit and unable to find alternative accommodation, in order that the question of negotiating for the purchase of the properties concerned may be considered. No comment by me appears to be called for at this stage.

Mrs. Butler

Is the Minister aware that, out of the applications received by the Wood Green Council from tenants due to be evicted next October, the authority has examined in detail 68 cases, of which more than half are from tenants over 60, 19 are from tenants over 70, and two are from tenants over 80, and that more than half have sub-tenants who are likely to find great difficulty in claiming protection under the Act? This being the situation eight months before next October, in one part of my constituency, does the Minister not realise the tragedies which will occur next October unless he does something about it?

Mr. Brooke

Whatever the circumstances, the first action to be taken is for the council itself to decide what it wants to do.

Mr. Jay

But does the Minister not really understand that there will be housing chaos in London in October? As there is now an overwhelming demand for the amendment of the Rent Act, why does he still refuse to do anything?

Mr. Brooke

I do not accept for one moment the first part of the right hon Gentleman's question.

30. Mr. G. Thomas

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will sanction exceptional expenditure by local housing authorities who seek to provide alternative homes for people evicted in October, 1958, under the terms of the Rent Act, 1957; and whether he will make a statement.

Mr. H. Brooke

I am always prepared to consider proposals requiring my sanction when I know what they are.

Mr. Thomas

But does the right hon. Gentleman not realise that local authorities are being put in a most impossible position by his present callous indifference and his incitement to bad landlords, and does he not think that he has some obligation to local government in this matter?

Mr. Brooke

The hon. Gentleman's question was couched in vague terms, and I am not at all clear what action local authorities might, in the hon. Gentleman's view, want to take which would not be covered by their existing statutory powers.

Mr. Thomas

Is the Minister aware that, unless local authorities are able to provide shelter for these people, we shall have a major crisis in certain cities and towns of the country? Therefore, does he not appreciate that my question is directed to the point that local authorities should be empowered to build extra accommodation for these people, which they can only do through an extra grant?

Mr. Brooke

The point is that I cannot grant loan sanction to a local authority until it has applied to me for loan sanction.

34. Mr. Elwyn Jones

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs how many old people are likely to be affected by the decontrol provisions of the Rent Act within the next twelve months; and what is the nature of the assistance which, as indicated in his Department's Circular No. 55/57, dated 20th November, 1957, he expects local authorities with very large housing waiting lists to be able to give to them.

Mr. H. Brooke

I have no figures showing how many old people are likely to need assistance, though I would not expect the number to be large. I think the hon. and learned Member will find my suggestions fully explained in the Circular.

Mr. Jones

Is it not sheer humbug for the Minister to ask local authorities with vast housing lists to help old people evicted as a result of his Rent Act, and is he not aware that in West Ham, for instance, the rehousing of families of young and old people living in foul slum conditions is being held up because there is no alternative accommodation even for them?

Mr. Brooke

No, Sir. I have great faith in local authorities carrying out their duties and responsibilities. The hon. and learned Member seems even yet not to have realised that the effect of the Rent Act will be to increase and not to diminish the amount of accommodation.