HC Deb 09 June 1971 vol 818 cc1023-5
15. Mr. Eadie

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authorities have now intimated to him that they will not increase house rents.

The Minister for Housing and Construction (Mr. Julian Amery)

Local authorities are not required to inform me if they do not propose to increase rents.

Mr. Eadie

May I take it from that answer that if a local authority were to inform the right hon. Gentleman that it did not intend to increase its rents, the Government—especially in view of the mandate which local authorities recently acquired from the electorate—would not seek to interfere, either directly or indirectly, with that decision of the local authority?

Mr. Amery

I suggest that the hon. Gentleman awaits the report which I hope to make to the House in due course about my discussions with the local authority associations on our proposals for the reform of housing finance.

Mr. Marks

Will local councils have any control whatever over the rents of their houses when the right hon. Gentleman's scheme comes into operation, or will their rents have to be based on rateable values?

Mr. Amery

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will await the report which I shall be making to the House.

Mr. Crosland

We require a definite statement from the Minister on this point. If a local authority does not wish to increase its rents, will the Government compel it to raise them to what they consider to be a fair rent level? If so, what becomes of all the Tory talk about greater freedom for local authorities?

Mr. Amery

I must ask the right hon. Gentleman to await the report which I shall be making to the House. It will be available very soon.

40. Mrs. Doris Fisher

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the cost rent of a new Parker Morris Standard house will be more or less than the fair rent; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Amery

In most though not in all cases the fair rent of newly built dwellings is likely to be less than their cost as reflected in the housing revenue account.

Mrs. Fisher

If the rearrangement of Government subsidies is that they are to be given only to those who cannot afford fair rents, will not other council tenants be called upon to pay fair rents, and if the figure now being worked out of the cost of the Parker Morris house is to be higher than that rent, who is to pay it?

Mr. Amery

I must ask the hon. Lady to await the report which I will make to the House when our discussions with the local authority associations are complete.

Mr. Leonard

Would the right hon. Gentleman desist from using the term "fair rent" in this context, as it is becoming increasingly clear that the Government's proposals do not provide for the essential feature of fair rents, as compared with the private sector where they can be freely negotiated between individual landlords and tenants?

Mr. Amery

I must ask the hon. Member to resist the temptation to pronounce upon this till I have made my report to the House.