Clause 68 (Hansard, 30 October 1986)

§ Mr. Howard
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this we will discuss Lords amendment No. 141, in page 52, line 13, at end insert— (3A) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for exempting single property schemes from subsection (1) above. (3B) For the purposes of subsection (3A) above a single property scheme is a scheme which has the characteristics mentioned in subsection (3C) below and satisfies such other requirements as are specified in the regulations conferring the exemption. (3C) The characteristics referred to above are—

(a) that the property subject to the scheme (apart from cash or other assets held for management purposes) consists of—

(i) a single building (or a single building with ancillary buildings) managed by or on behalf of the operator of the scheme; or

(ii) a group of adjacent or contiguous buildings managed by him or on his behalf as a single enterprise,

with or without ancillary land and with or without furniture, fittings or other contents of the building or buildings in question; and

(b) that the units of the participants in the scheme are either dealt in on a recognised investment exchange or offered on terms such that any agreement for their acquisition is conditional on their admission to dealings on such an exchange.

(3D) Regulations under subsection (3A) above may contain such supplementary and transitional provisions as the Secretary of State thinks necessary and may also contain provisions imposing obligations or liabilities on the operator and trustee (if any) of an exempted scheme, including, to such extent as he thinks appropriate, provisions for purposes corresponding to those for which provision can be made under section 77 below in relation to authorised unit trust schemes.

§ Mr. Butterfill
I apologise for interrupting this rapid succession of amendments, but at this juncture I wish to say how pleased I am to see amendments Nos. 140 and 141 and to know that many people outside the Chamber will be gratified that they provide a basis for establishing a unitised market in properties. That is especially important with regard to urban renewal.
I am aware that many people—some eminent—have made criticisms of our failure both in industry and in general to carry out sufficient urban renewal. The whole concept of property unitisation will go a long way to facilitate urban renewal.
One of the problems of major projects of urban renewal is that when they are carried out by the private sector, such projects are extremely expensive and complex and also risky with the result that very few individual firms have been prepared to carry them out. Under the concept of unitisation such large and relatively risky projects can be split up among a large number of investors and will therefore become more feasible propositions. The other attraction of the proposal is that it will make liquidity within the market very much better and generally facilitate the ownership of property by a much wider group of individuals. For all those reasons, I warmly congratulate my hon. and learned Friend the Minister on the proposals contained in the amendment.

§ Mr. Howard
I express my gratitude to my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, West (Mr. Butterfill) for the welcome he has given to these provisions. He raised the matter in Committee and I should like to express my gratitude for the constructive role he played in enabling us to reach a satisfactory solution.