HC Deb 15 October 1975 vol 897 cc1353-5
18. Mr. Watkinson

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the Government intend to review the conditions of tenancy of council house tenants.

Mr. Armstrong

Conditions of tenancy are a matter for the local authority concerned, but the need for further guidance is being considered.

Mr. Watkinson

Is my hon. Friend aware that there are wide discrepancies in conditions of tenancy from authority to authority, and that there is growing resentment at the one-sided nature of the obligations? When will the Government give further consideration to security of tenure for council house tenants?

Mr. Armstrong

I am aware of the wide variety. We are anxious to get rid of any fussy and restrictive regulations affecting tenants.

With regard to security of tenure for council tenants, we have given the commitment and we shall honour it, but we have been urgently busy on what we regard as the most critical issues, and concentrating on them. We shall certainly honour our commitment concerning security of tenure for tenants.

Mr. Eyre

Is the Minister aware that hundreds of thousands of tenants living on council estates, particularly in large towns and cities, are very critical of the bureaucratic way in which their lives are dominated by council officialdom? Is he further aware that those tenants need and would welcome a tenants' charter which set out their rights on basic matters—the Minister mentioned crucial matters, but did not specify them—such as transfers, decorations, and so on, and give them a greater say in how their lives are run?

Mr. Armstrong

The problem of management of housing is a topical issue, and we want to involve tenants to a much greater extent. That is why we are now advertising for a new housing management adviser who will give advice so that we can involve tenants far more in the running of their houses and the environment around them.

Mr. Corbett

Will my hon. Friend encourage local authorities when granting new tenancies, to grant them in the name of both husband and wife? In cases where existing tenancies are issued simply in the name of the husband, will he encourage local authorities to translate these, similarly, where both husband and wife have an equal right to the tenancy?

Mr. Armstrong

My hon. Friend has mentioned the kind of detail that we are considering. We issue guidelines and are in consultation with local authorities, but we have to preserve a balance. We believe that members of local housing authorities are the people who really understand the needs of their tenants, and therefore much more of the initiative will come from them.

21. Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice he has given to local authorities on enabling council tenants to transfer from one town to another.

Mr. Armstrong

General guidance on the removal of obstacles to mobility was given in a report of the Central Housing Advisory Committee, which was commended to local authorities in 1969.

We are considering whether further steps are needed as part of our general review of housing management.

Mr. Finsberg

I thank the Minister for his helpful reply. Will he develop it one stage further and accept the complaint which many of us receive from our constituents about the stupid bureaucracy in which local authorities, irrespective of their political control, seem to indulge when tenants wish to transfer within the authorities' areas? Will the hon. Gentleman consider meeting some of us to discuss this point?

Mr. Armstrong

I should be prepared to do that. There is a demand which is not being met. We are considering all aspects, because we want to offer proper facilities so that proper exchanges may take place.

Sir John Hall

In considering the guidance that the Minister might give to local authorities will he consider also the related problem of applicants for council housing being forced to move into a neighbouring area in order to find temporary accommodation, and because of that being taken off the first local authority list and having to start at the bottom of the list operated by their new local authority? Surely this is undesirable, and surely there should be much greater interchange between neighbouring authorities.

Mr. Armstrong

Local authorities have been advised many times to remove the residential qualifications, but this is a matter for each local authority, and practice varies throughout the country.

Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop

Is the Minister aware of a problem which exists in Devon, where people deliberately move into holiday accommodation with the intention of having to be evicted, thereby jumping the queue for local authority accommodation in the area? This is a very real problem in certain areas, and the practice is grossly unfair to many families who have been on the waiting list for local authority housing for many years.

Mr. Armstrong

I am aware of that point. That is why we are conducting such a thorough review. In removing one anomaly it is possible to create three others.