§ Mr. Julius SilvermanI beg to move Amendment No. 4, in page 3, line 21, at end insert:
',or in respect of which a right of enfranchisement exists or may accrue'.
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Miss Harvie Anderson)I understand that it will also be convenient to discuss at the same time Amendment No. 5, in line 45, at end insert:
',or in respect of which a right of enfranchisement exists or may accrue'.
§ Mr. SilvermanThis is another of those "What about it?" amendments. When this point was raised in Committee, it was regarded sympathetically by the Minister. It relates to property in regard to which a right of enfranchisement exists or may apply. Amendment No. 4 applies to England; Amendment No. 5 applies the same principle to Scotland.
Let me put forward an extreme case. Suppose a man has been living in a leasehold house for four years, and along comes the "responsible authority"—the council—and makes a compulsory purchase order. Let us assume that the man has not yet acquired the right to enfranchise under the Leasehold Reform Act. Without the enfranchisement, all 864 he has got is an interest for about a year—which is a very small interest. On the other hand, if he had remained in the property for the whole of the five years, he would have been able to enfranchise and would have had a substantial interest. This may make a difference of many hundreds, indeed thousands, of pounds to the person concerned because he would have a saleable interest. Obviously as it stands the wording in the Bill would cause great hardship for a person in that position if the right of enfranchisement is not taken into consideration in assessing value.
I am not sure whether the Amendments as drafted meet the case—they rarely do—but this is the principle I wish to be imported into the Bill. I do not need to develop the case because the Minister considered it in Committee and realised that there was a genuine point which he regarded sympathetically. I should like to know whether at this stage he is prepared to accept the principle, if not in the terms of these amendmens, in the terms of further amendments which could be moved in another place.
§ Mr. Graham PageIn Committee I expressed gratitude to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Aston (Mr. Julius Silverman) for bringing this point to our notice. I promised to look at it to see whether we could introduce an amendment to deal with it. I give an assurance that, having looked at it, we will introduce an amendment in another place. I apologise for not having such an amendment ready at this stage and for having to say, as expected, that the hon. Member's drafting is not correct. We each appreciate what the other means. We shall have the correct drafting ready, and I hope that when the Bill comes back to us from another place the hon. Member will be satisfied.
§ Mr. SilvermanWith that very generous assurance, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.