ALTERATION OF PERIODS DURING WHICH SALE OF LAND HELD IN SECURITY IS TO BE ADVERTISED

HC Deb 11 May 1970 vol 801 cc932-3

Mr. Wylie

I beg to move Amendment No. 57, in page 24, line 17, leave out ' twenty-eight ' and insert ' forty-two '.

This point was raised in Committee. It is the question of the period within which an enforceable contract of sale shall be concluded. The period of 28 days was represented to me as too short. In Committee, a period of 56 days was suggested. The Under-Secretary said that it was a matter of judgment and that he would consider it. I thought that 56 days was rather long.

The purpose of the Amendment is to raise the matter again to see what further views the Minister has had. It may be that 42 days is a suitable compromise between the two periods concerned.

Mr. Buchan

We have considered this matter seriously since it was raised in Committee. Then. I said that this was a matter of judgment, based on advice. We have consulted fully on this matter. We have consulted the Counties of Cities Association, the Convention of Royal Burghs, the Law Society of Scotland, the Building Societies Association, Professor Halliday, the Committee of Scottish Bank General Managers and the Society of Writers to the Signet. There was no unanimous view. If anything, there was sometimes a variation of view within the different bodies. I said that it was a matter of judgment, based on advice, and I have had to make my own judgment. The majority of the important bodies consulted accepted the 28-day period. I think that that is right. There may be one or two cases in which difficulty is created, but, broadly, we think it right that the average debtor should not be kept hanging on for too long.

My view, therefore, based on the advice which has come to me, is to stick to the 28 days, in the hope of bringing matters to as speedy a conclusion as possible. In the vast majority of cases, this can be done well within the period, and we think it best to keep to the period in the Bill rather than extend it.

Mr. Wylie

The Minister has had extensive consultations, and it would not be proper for me to press for a change in the light of the advice which he has received. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.