§ 2.39 p.m.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER (THE EARL OF SELKIRK)My Lords, I beg to move this Order, which is made under the Slum Clearance Compensation Act, 1956, to which the Royal Assent was given in August of this year. The purpose of this Order is to regulate payments made in cases of unfit houses which have had to be demolished for slum clearance in 1231 cases where those houses had been well maintained. The principle behind this is, of course, quite simple: that where an owner-occupier or landlord has maintained his property well, even though it is unfit for habitation, it is proper that when it comes to be demolished he should receive some payment. Under the 1936 Act the amount which he received could be paid on one of two bases. Either he could be paid the total proved expenditure over the previous five years less 1¼ times the rateable value, or alternatively, and, indeed, in the great majority of cases (which, of course, includes cases where accounts may have been mislaid), he could be paid instead a sum based on a multiple of the rateable value.
In 1936 this multiplier was set at three times the rateable value for the owner-occupier, and 1½ times the rateable value for the landlord. This was thought to approximate to the average cost of maintaining the house over a five-year period. To-day, on the one hand, it is estimated that the cost of building has gone up about 3½ times and, on the other hand, in a great majority of these houses the rateable value has changed very slightly. The new valuations are, of course, on the 1939 basis, and it is broadly assumed that there was only a very slight change in rateable values between 1936 and 1939.
As a result of this, it seems a fair deduction that the average cost of maintaining a property over a five-year period to-day is in the order of three times what it was in 1936. Thus, on that basis, we propose by this Order to increase the multiplier in each case by three times, bringing that of the owner-occupier to nine times the rateable value and the landlord to 4½ times the rateable value. I hope your Lordships will agree that that is a fair basis. I beg to move.
§ Moved. That the Housing (Payments for Well-Maintained Houses) Order, 1956, reported from the Special Orders Committee yesterday, be approved.—(The Earl of Selkirk.)
§ LORD SILKINMy Lords, it is really unnecessary for us on this side of the House to make any special comments on this Order. It was foreshadowed during the debates on the Slum Clearance Bill. 1232 We approve of it, and from our point of view we have no objection to its going through without any further discussion.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.