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Lords Amendment: In page 108, line 28, at end insert:
(3) In section 69(3) of the Act of 1957 (under which a local authority may issue a certificate that a house is fit for human habitation and will remain so fit for a specified period, not being less than five nor more than ten years) for the word ' ten' there shall be substituted the word 'fifteen'".
§ Sir K. JosephI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
Under Section 69 of the 1957 Housing Act the owner of a house who proposes to improve it may apply to the local authority for a certificate showing that under certain circumstances, or, rather, subject to certain conditions connected with the fitness of the house and assuming that the house in the local authority's view shall have a life of not less than five and no more than 10 years, the owner shall be entitled to reecive from the local authority a certificate to that effect.
If the local authority gives such a certificate, then for the period set out in it the local authority is debarred from taking action to secure the demolition of the house as unfit for human habitation either by including it in a clearance area under Part III of the 1957 Act or by means of a demolition order under Part II of the 1957 Act.
During the debates on the Bill, my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Sir E. Errington) pointed out that, since an improvement grant cannot be given unless the house has a life of at least 15 years, surely the 10-year maximum period under Section 65 should be extended to 15 years, so that if such an extension were made an owner could get a certificate excluding the possibility of the demolition of the house as unfit for habitation for a period up to 15 years.
This seems to make sense, and this Amendment provides for the extension of the period from 10 to 15 years.
§ Question put and agreed to.