BASE VALUE OF OWNER-OCCUPIED DWELLING-HOUSE (Hansard, 17 July 1969)

§ The Minister for Planning and Land (Mr. Kenneth Robinson)
I beg to move Amendment No. 57, in page 57, line 32, at end insert: (4A) If the grantor is a trustee, and the dwelling-house has been the sole or main residence of a person who—

(a) is entitled to occupy it under the terms of the settlement, or

(b) is a beneficiary under the settlement and allowed by the trustee to occupy it, sub-paragraph (1)(a) and sub-paragraph (4) above shall have effect as if that person were the grantor.
I think that perhaps we could take with this Amendment, Mr. Speaker, Amendment No. 60, in page 58, line 25, after '(4)', insert '(4A)'.

§ Mr. Speaker
If the House has no objection, so be it.

§ Mr. Robinson
The House will recall that when this Clause was considered in Committee of the whole House on 14th May, the hon. Member for Acton (Mr. Kenneth Baker) moved an Amendment designed to extend the benefit which is to be conferred on owner-occupiers to trustees who sell houses which have been occupied by a beneficiary under the trust. I felt unable to accept the Amendment which the hon. Gentleman put down, but I agreed to consider whether a suitable Amendment could be tabled on Report. I think that this Amendment achieves the end which the hon. Gentleman sought.
The Amendment provides that the improved base value for owner-occupiers shall also be available to a person selling a house, within the prescribed limits of size and value, where that person is a trustee and the occupant of the house is a beneficiary under the trust. To say simply "a beneficiary" may be an oversimplification and I ought perhaps to add a word of explanation about this.
First, the Amendment provides for the case where the beneficiary is a person who, under the terms of the trust, is specifically entitled to occupy the house. The Amendment then goes on to provide for the case where any other person who is a beneficiary under the trust occupies the house; that is, any beneficiary who is 1040 not specifically entitled under the terms of the trust to occupy it. The Amendment is thus, if I may say so, generously wide, for any beneficiary under a trust who occupies the house concerned is put into the position of an owner-occupier even though the value of his interest under the trust may be less than the value of the house that he occupies.
Amendment No. 60 is consequential on the first.

§ Mr. Kenneth Baker
I thank the Minister for generously acceding to the case which I and some of my colleagues made in Committee. Any improvement of betterment levy is to be welcomed, and I am sure that it is welcomed on both sides of the House.
This is the only significant relief which we have secured during the long Committee stage of the Bill. We should have liked to see many others, the most important of which was to have owner-occupied houses taken out of the charge to betterment levy all together. Nevertheless, this is a step in the right direction, and I welcome it. I thank the Minister for turning his sympathetic consideration to helpful action.