CANCELLATION OF ENTRIES IN REGISTER RELATING TO PART VII CONTRACTS AT INSTANCE OF LANDLORD

HC Deb 10 June 1980 vol 986 cc326-8

'After section 91 of the 1971 Act there shall be inserted the following section— 91A.—(1) Where a rent has been registered under section 89 of this Act but the dwelling-house has ceased to be subject to a Part VII Contract, an application to a rent assessment committee may be made by the landlord in accordance with this section for the cancellation of the registration. (2) An application under this section shall not be enterlained before the expiry of three years from the date when the registration of the rent takes effect in accordance with section 89 of this Act. (3) On an application under subsection (1) above the rent assessment committee shall, where subsections (1) and (2) above are complied with, cancel the registration, and shall make an entry in the register noting the cancellation and the date from which the cancellation takes effect. (4) The president of the panel set up under Schedule 5 to this Act may, if he thinks fit direct that in considering applications made under subsection (1) above, the chairman sitting alone may exercise the functions of a rent assessment committee. (5) An application under this section shall be in the prescribed form and contain the prescribed particulars. (6) The rent assessment committee shall notify the applicant of its decision to grant or to refuse any application under this section and, where it grants the application, of the date from which the cancellation takes effect.".'.—[Mr. Rifkind.]

Brought up, and read the First Time.

Mr. Rifkind

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

The purpose of the clause is to enable rents fixed more than three years ago for dwellings subject to part VII contracts to be cancelled provided that at the time application for cancellation is made the dwelling is not then subject to a part VII contract. The principle behind the clause has already been established by clause 42, which permits fair rents to be cancelled subject to the same conditions. It seems sensible that the same rules should apply for part VII contracts.

Mr. Millan

The Minister has said that the principle has already been established by clause 42 and that the new clause is applying the same principle to part VII contracts. The hon. Gentleman will remember that not all of my hon. Friends were happy about the principle in clause 42.

I am not convinced that the division that the new clause provides is necessary. I am not sure what benefit it is to anyone for these cancellations to take place. If this were purely a technical matter with there being no benefit or disbenefit to anyone, it would be far better for there to be an automatic cancellation of a registration after a certain period. For the cancellation to be made on the application of the landlord suggests to me—I think that it is suggested to some of my hon. Friends—that it will be done because there will be some advantage to the landlord. I suspect that that is so.

I do not suggest that we oppose the new clause, but I should not like the Minister to think that we consider the clause to be necessary or that we accept the principle in clause 42. I do not think that we do, and I do not think that a convincing reason was given for the clause in Committee.

Mr. Rifkind

We are dealing with a situation in which there is no longer a resident tenant—a lodger—living in the property. There may not have been such a presence for many years. The property may be sold to a new owner and there is an artificial situation in which technically a rent exists for a property which may not be used for the purpose for which the rent was established. It seems sensible to allow that provision to be removed. The right hon. Gentleman suggests that that might be done automatically, but that is another matter. If the provision has been removed and it is considered appropriate in future to have a tenant again, the appropriate rent at that time would become a live issue. I accept that the right hon. Gentleman may wish to give further thought to the precise way in which this is done.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.