HC Deb 10 July 1964 vol 698 cc787-90

Lords Amendment: In page 20, line 28, leave out "twelve" and insert "six".

Mr. Corfield

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

The Amendment is designed to reduce the period of 12 months to six months which is allowed at the end of the five years from the date of the declaration of an improvement area for the service by the local authority of the final improvement notice. The House will recall that local authorities are not obliged by Clause 18 to serve a final improvement notice at the end of the five years, but if they intend to do so the period of six months should give them ample time to complete the final stage.

Question put and agreed to.

Lords Amendment: In page 20, line 46, leave out from "to" to end of line 48 and insert: offer, or arrange for some other authority or person to offer, suitable alternative accommodation to the tenant, so as to afford to the tenant a reasonable opportunity of taking up that alternative accommodation.

Mr. Corfield

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

This Amendment is designed to make it clear that a local authority's obligation under Clause 18 will be satisfied if it either offers or arranges for some other authority or person to offer suitable accommodation.

12.30 p.m.

Mr. Michael Stewart (Fulham)

I am glad to see this Amendment on the Notice Paper, because while it provides that the local authority shall do what is right in the interest of the tenant, it enables it to do so in a manner in which it would often need to be done, whereas the original draft was too rigid.

If I may do so without trespassing on your patience, Mr. Speaker, I should like briefly to refer to the next two Amendments, which have a causal connection with this one. We are to be asked, I understand, in subsequent Amendments to put the court in a position where it can impose rather more stringent conditions upon the local authority. I wonder whether that was done because the local authority had been given this greater flexibility in the way in which it could fulfil the undertaking to the tenant. The Minister may want to refer to this when we reach the Amendments in question.

Mr. Nicholas Ridley (Cirencester and Tewkesbury)

I should like to ask my hon. Friend a question. It is, I assume, still the case that if a tenant does not wish to leave, even though alternative accommodation is offered, he cannot be forced to leave the accommodation so that the improvements can be effected. This seems to me to be a vital safeguard which we should retain. There appears to be nothing in the Amendment to destroy that safeguard.

Mr. Corfield

My hon. Friend the Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Ridley) can be reassured. What it amounts to is that if the local authority wishes to enforce the improvement notice and it can satisfy the court, should the tenant appeal to the court, that it has offered alternative accommodation, notwithstanding the failure of the tenant to consent, it can enforce the improvement notice.

As to whether, in any particular case, it would be possible to do so with the tenant there, I obviously could not generalise. There is, however, no suggestion that the Amendment gives the local authority power to evict the tenant. It merely obliges it to carry out the improvements despite the tenant's lack of consent and to claim, under later provisions of the Bill, the corresponding increase in rent.

Question put and agreed to.

Lords Amendment: In page 21, line 6, leave out "may" and insert "shall".

Mr. Corfield

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

Here again, if we may take the next Amendment with this one, I think that it would be for the convenience of the House.

Mr. Speaker

If the House so pleases.

Mr. Corfield

The first Amendment is a paving one for the second Amendment. I hope that I am replying also to the point raised by the hon. Member for Fulham (Mr. M. Stewart) in saying that the purpose of the second Amendment is to enable the tenant, if there is doubt whether the accommodation offered under the previous Amendment is suitable, to go to the county court and to give the county court jurisdiction to decide on that matter and, at the same time, to give the local authority an opportunity to come back at a later stage, if the court decides that it has not offered suitable alternative accommodation, with a further offer or proposal.

What the second Amendment does further is that after efforts by the local authority to find the alternative accommodation and satisfy the court, it enables the improvement notice, instead of being suspended indefinitely and hanging over the house, to come to an end if the local authority is unable to satisfy the court as to the alternative accommodation for the tenant.

Question put and agreed to.

Subsequent Lords Amendment agreed to.

Lords Amendment: In page 21, line 10, after the words last inserted insert: (5) As soon as practicable after service of a withdrawal notice under subsection (3) of this section in Scotland the local authority shall cause to be recorded in the General Register of Sasines a certificate in the prescribed form stating that the said notice has been served as aforesaid.

The Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Cordon Campbell)

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

This is a Scottish Amendment consequential upon the two which preceded it.

Question put and agreed to.