EXTENSION OF RENT ALLOWANCES (Hansard, 10 June 1980)

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

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this it will be convenient to take new clause 15—Extension of rent allowance scheme.

§ Mr. Rifkind
In Scotland at present eligibility for rent allowance towards housing costs, with few exceptions, rests heavily on the Rent Acts. This dependence on the terms of existing Rent Act legislation has the effect of excluding certain forms of tenancy from entitlement to rent allowances. Therefore, some persons are denied assistance with their rent.
The main area of concern surrounds people who do not enjoy Rent Act protection because they do not have exclusive occupation of their accommodation. This category comprises mainly hostel dwellers who may occupy no more than a bed space in a dormitory. Therefore, 340 because they do not have the protection of the Rent Acts, their eligibility for rent allowance cannot be considered. The effect of the new clause will be to rectify this anomaly which, in principle, has excluded tenants of unfurnished houses, for example, owned by regional councils. This is another example of the anomalies which exist. Therefore, it is thought appropriate not to have, as it were, the specific criteria which have to be met, but to enable all those who may have problems in meeting their rent to consider whether their income justifies an application for a rent allowance.
As regards new clause 15, the current definition of "housing associations" was deliberately framed so as to exclude co-ownership societies from the rent allowance scheme, because houses owned by such associations are in the nature of owner-occupied houses rather than tenanted houses since an outgoing member qualifies for premium payments related to the increase in the value of the property during his term of occupation. However, the definition also has the effect, which was never intended, of excluding par value fully mutual registered co-operative housing associations where no premium payment related to the increase in the value of the house is paid to outgoing members. Those who are in that form of cooperative housing are more in the position of tenants than of potential owner-occupiers. It seems unfair that they should be excluded from the possibility of applying for a rent allowance or for the other protections available to tenants. New clause 15 seeks to correct that problem.

§ Mr. Gordon Wilson
I welcome the two new clauses. I was a critic of the Minister earlier in the proceedings in relation to the avalanche of new clauses and amendments tabled by the Government. I wish to say immediately that new clauses 14 and 15 are two examples that I welcome because they fill a gap. The Minister is to be congratulated on putting them forward.

§ Mr. Robin F. Cook (Edinburgh, Central)
I welcome the two new clauses. In the course of the past few minutes we have passed a number of new clauses that bring into effect the commitments made by the Minister in Committee, and which, 341 in some cases, are in response to points raised in Committee, especially the new clause that removes the grounds for evading the Rent Acts by the provision of a spurious element of board. The Minister will recall that I raised that point in Committee.
One of the problems in the private rented sector with which we are familiar is the difficulty of advising tenants of their rights and their entitlement to allowances. It is especially difficult to get that across in the context of piecemeal reforms such as those that we are considering tonight. Will the Minister consider, with his officials, what appropriate publicity could be given to the new rights? A number of tenants in Scotland are caught by evasion of the Rent Acts under the spurious provision of board. They are unlikely to read the Hansard report of the debate, and, unless other steps are taken, the rights that we are conferring may turn out to be nugatory.

§ Mr. Rifkind
I acknowledge the force of the remarks made by the hon. Member for Edinburgh, Central (Mr. Cook), and thank him and the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Mr. Wilson) for welcoming the provisions. I shall consider the ways that might be appropriate to ensure that rights under these provisions are known by those who might benefit from them.