RESTRICTION ON RECOVERY OF POSSESSION ON EXPIRY OR TERMINATION

HC Deb 30 April 1996 vol 276 cc981-2

Mr. Clappison

I beg to move amendment No. 58, in page 59, line 18, after first 'the' insert 'immediately preceding'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker

With this, it will be convenient to discuss also Government amendments Nos. 59, 60A, 61A and 146.

Mr. Clappison

The amendments are concerned with the clarity of wording of the established minimum period of six months for an assured shorthold tenancy. We sought to enshrine that period through the Bill's previous wording, which had attracted some criticism in respect of its clarity. I hope that this wording is clearer and that it will win more plaudits.

Mr. Raynsford

I invite the House to judge what the Minister has just said. The clause as previously worded read: where the replacement tenancy came into being on the coming to an end of a tenancy which was not a replacement tenancy, to the tenancy on the coming to an end of which the replacement tenancy came into being, and". That is being amended to read: where the replacement tenancy came into being on the coming to an end of a tenancy which was not a replacement tenancy to the immediately preceding tenancy on the coming to an end of which the replacement tenancy came into being, and". I invite the Minister to explain whether that achieves any greater clarity and whether that gobbledegook will be understood by anyone other than the clerks and parliamentary draftsmen who concocted that extraordinary phrase.

Mr. Betts

Can the Minister confirm that, after the initial six-month period, even under the revised wording, there is no effective security for tenants and that they can be evicted from a property at a moment's notice by the landlord?

Mr. Clappison

The hon. Gentleman may know that that is the established situation and has been since the regime came into being. Assured shorthold tenancies were earlier praised by the hon. Member for Greenwich (Mr. Raynsford). Amendment agreed to.

Amendments made: No. 59, in page 59, line 18, leave out from 'tenancy' to and' in line 19.

No. 60A, in page 59, line 21, leave out 'on the coming to an end of which' and insert 'immediately preceding'.

No. 61A, in page 59, line 22, leave out 'came into being'.—[Mr. Clappison.]