§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly:
§ (The LORD STANMORE in the Chair.)
§ Clause 1 [Validation of tenancies for the duration of the war]:
§
THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT SIMON) moved to insert in subsection (1):
(c) if the agreement relates to a holding within the meaning of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1923, this subsection shall apply to that agreement subject to the provisions of Sections twenty-three and twenty-five of the said Act.
The noble and learned Viscount said: I move this Amendment which deals with a topic raised on the Second Reading by my noble and learned friends Lord Maugham and Lord Roche. It is very doubtful indeed whether any agricultural tenancies have been made for the duration of the war; and the Minister of Agriculture thinks it is not only doubtful but also that if there were such a lease certainly arrangements would have been made in it for a suitable date of termination. You cannot conclude at a month's notice an agricultural tenancy without a good deal of trouble owing to Nature. If however there should be such a case, this new paragraph would cover it entirely and secure for the agricultural landholder that he is preserved in the right given him under the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1923.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 1, line 22, at end insert the said new paragraph.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORThe next Amendment is a drafting Amendment. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 2, line 22, after ("section") insert ("(other than this subsection)").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 1, as amended, agreed to.
1033§ Clause 2:
§ Construction of tenancy agreements.
§ 2.—(1) Where any tenancy agreement uses, for the purpose of defining the term or purported term of the tenancy or for any other purpose, the expression "the war" or "hostilities" or "the emergency" or any similar) expression which does not indicate whether it refers—
§ In considering whether the context requires the expression to be otherwise construed, regard may be had to the date on which the agreement was made.
§
THE LORD CHANCELLOR moved, in subsection (1) to leave out:
In considering whether the context requires the expression to be otherwise construed, regard may be had to the date on which the agreement was made.
The noble and learned Viscount said: The words proposed to be left out were originally inserted—indeed by my own hand—to make it quite clear that the court, in considering the context of a "war-time agreement" might look among other things at the date when the agreement was made in order to guide it as to the question it has to decide—"Is this a lease for the period of the war with Germany, or is this a lease for the period of the war whatever it may be?" On consideration, however, I felt that there could be no doubt that the date of the agreement is part of its context and that no additional words are needed. I am afraid if we leave in these words some judicial authority might draw the wrong inference and might suppose that Parliament was insisting that if the date of the agreement was earlier than the outbreak of the Japanese war it necessarily followed that the agreement was only for the period of the German war. That is not our Intention. If there is nothing definite to show the length of the agreement then it would be for the whole war, but in determining what is the proper construction of the document having regard to the context the date of the agreement would be taken into account. I think it better to leave out the words.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 3, leave out lines 33 to 35.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 2, as amended, agreed to.
1034§ Clause 3:
§ Saving for past settlements and notices.
§ 3. Section one of this Act shall not—
- (a) be taken as reviving any agreement terminated by agreement of the parties thereto before the passing of this Act;
- (b) apply to any agreement as respects which the landlord or the tenant has given before the thirteenth day of June, nineteen hundred and forty-four, a notice in writing which has, or would but for the said Section one, put an end to the relationship of landlord and tenant, except so far as that relationship is or might be preserved by the Rent and Mortgage Interest Restrictions Acts, 1920 to 1939, or any other enactment;
- (c) affect any agreement made before the said date to substitute a valid tenancy agreement for such an agreement as is referred to in subsection (1) of the said Section one;
- (d) require any agreement made before the passing of this Act to be executed in writing or under seal.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR moved to leave out Clause 3, and insert the following clause:
§ Savings.
§ "3.—(1) Section one of this Act shall not apply in any case where—
- (a) the relationship of landlord and tenant has terminated before the passing of this Act otherwise than by a notice given by the landlord or the tenant on or after the thirteenth clay of June, nineteen hundred and forty-four; or
- (b) the landlord or the tenant has given before the said day a notice in writing which would, but for the said Section one, determine the said relationship; or
- (c) the parties have agreed, before the passing of this Act, to determine the said relationship or to substitute for their existing agreement a valid tenancy.
§ For the purposes of this subsection, where a tenant retains possession of premises by virtue only of the Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Acts, 192o to 1939, or any other enactment, the relationship of landlord and tenant shall be deemed to have terminated.
§ (2) Any notice given, proceedings taken or thing done before the passing of this Act in relation to any agreement to which Section one of this Act applies shall, if it could have been given, taken or done in relation to that agreement as it takes effect under that section, continue to apply in relation to that agreement.
§ (3) Nothing in the said Section one shall affect any provision of an agreement to which that section applies, being a provision which does not relate to the duration of the tenancy, and any such provision shall continue to apply in relation to the tenancy as it lakes effect under that section.
§ (4) Nothing in the said Section one shall be taken as requiring any agreement to be executed in writing or under seal."
1035§ The noble and learned Viscount said: This Amendment is designed to make what is really quite a small change in Clause 3. It does nothing more than state the present contents of the clause in a more accurate manner and no alteration of substance is made. Your Lordships will remember that it is not proposed by the Bill to affect tenancies terminated before June 13 last, that being the date on which the Attorney-General announced our intention to pass this Bill. The other provisions speak for themselves and I think your Lordships may take it that the Amendment makes no change in substance. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 4, line 12, leave out Clause 3 and insert the said new clause.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 4 [Application to Scotland]:
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORThis clause is not uncommon in Acts of Parliament. It has the side note "Application to Scotland." I have seldom had the privilege of being responsible for a clause so entitled and I apologize to anyone present who comes from North of the Tweed. It may be that I am taking upon myself a task for which I am by no means qualified. The Amendments which I have put on the Paper with assistance from Edinburgh are however of the mildest and least provocative character. They leave things, as far as I can gather, very much as before, and I am assured by the highest authorities in Scotland that if we adopt them in this form everyone in Scotland will be satisfied. I hope your Lordships will be good enough to take the Amendments en bloc and if so we shall be doing a good deal of good at once because there are no fewer than ten of them.
§ Amendments moved—
§
Page 4, line 29, leave out ("as if") and insert ("subject to the following modifications:
(a)")
§ Page 4, line 30, leave out ("were") and insert ("shall be")
§ Page 4, line 32, leave out ("be a lease") and insert ("create a tenancy")
1036§ Page 4, line 36, leave out ("be a valid lease terminating") and insert ("not be invalid by reason of its terms as to duration, and shall terminate")
§ Page 4, line 37, leave out from the second ("at") to ("as") in line 39, and insert ("the end of such one of the periods specified in subsection (2) of this section")
§
Page 4, line 43, leave out from the beginning to end of line 11 on page 5 and insert:
("save as otherwise expressly provided in the agreement it shall be necessary in order to terminate the tenancy that at least forty clays or, if the agreement relates to an agricultural holding within the meaning of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1923, six months, notice of termination be given in writing, and in the latter case the tenancy shall terminate at the term of Whit-Sunday or Martinmas next after the expiry of the notice.")
§ Page 5, line 15, after ("with") insert ("or within a specified time after",)
§ Page 5, line 24, leave out ("is in force or") and insert ("or any Regulation order or power thereunder is in force or of")
§ Page 5, line 32, leave out ("consequent upon or connected") and insert ("likely to occur on or in connexion")
§ Page 5, line 33, at end insert ("(b) subsection (4) of Section three shall not apply.")—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendments agreed to.
§ Clause 4, as amended, agreed to.
§ Remaining clauses agreed to.