HC Deb 16 June 1958 vol 589 cc769-70

Amendment made: In page 28, line 5, after "the", insert "settlement or".—[Sir I. Horobin.]

Sir I. Horobin

I beg to move, in page 28, line 7, at the end to insert: Provided that—

  1. (a) any provisions of the Act of 1948 as to the giving of notice of intention to make a claim shall apply with the modification that the time for giving such a notice shall be any time not later than three months after the end of the period of occupation;
  2. (b) subsection (3) of section seventy of that Act (which relates to the time for settling such claims) shall apply with the substitution, for the reference to four months from the termination of the tenancy, of a reference to five months from the end of the period of occupation.
This Amendment is a bit more complicated. It is, broadly speaking, for the protection of the tenant. Clause 23 (6) applies the provisions of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1948, about the making of claims by a tenant against his landlord for compensation on long-term improvements and the continuous adoption of a special system of farming.

There are two provisions of that Act with which we have to deal. Section 70 requires a tenant to make a claim in

>"or under that section as applied by section twenty-eight of this Act, shall accrue due on the date on which the contract to sell the property in question is made or, if that date was before the operative date of the order, shall be treated as having accrued due on the date on which that contract was made".

This fulfils an undertaking I gave to move an Amendment at this stage to provide that compensation for loss on forced sales would accrue due on the date when the losses are incurred and not, as the Bill is drafted, on the date of the compulsory rights order. In fulfilling the undertaking we have run up against a small difficulty which will be relevant if the Amendment to the proposed Amendment is moved as it would affect the date on which the losses are in fact incurred. respect of long-term improvements within two months of the termination of the tenancy. Section 56 requires the tenant to make a claim in respect of the continuous adoption of a special system of farming within one month of the termination. The tenant cannot get on his land until the Board has got off the land and two months after it has got off the land is different from two months before it comes on to the land, when he has time to prepare his claim. Therefore we have extended the period during which he can make these claims and put it after—as it obviously must be—and not before the Coal Board gives up occupation. This is not a matter of principle, but of commonsense adaptation.

Amendment agreed to.

Further Amendments made: In page 28, line 36, leave out "and fifty-six" and insert "fifty-six and seventy".

In page 28, line 40, leave out "and fifty-six" and insert "fifty-six and sixty-eight".—[Sir I. Horobin.]