LANDLORD AND TENANT BILL (Hansard, 10 July 1962)

§ VISCOUNT BRENTFORD
My Lords, I beg to move that the Landlord and Tenant Bill be read a second time. This Bill comes to this House from another place where it received universal commendation on Second Reading, although I think it is true to say that that commendation was considerably spiced with constructive criticism. During the passage of the Bill through the Committee stage it was considerably amended, but principally in matters of detail and not so much as to affect the original principle of the Bill. So that when it came to its Third Reading in another place it again received universal approbation from all parts of that House. I mention this fact in the hope that it will receive a like reception in your Lordships' House.
The relationship of landlord and tenant may well be considered by many of your Lordships, in so far as weekly tenancies are concerned (and those are the tenancies which are dealt with by this Bill), as something of a personal relationship. But it remains the fact that it has been found in practice that there are a by no means insignificant number of landlords in this country, and particularly in urban areas, who do not share such a view. In fact, they prefer to remain incognito; to hide their light, as well as their name, under a bushel; and to avoid any possible contact with their tenants—the result being, of course, 232 that if the tenant has a legitimate complaint which he desires to make concerning the state of the property, or anything of that description, there are no means by which he can get behind the agent who collects his rent and get in touch with the responsible person.
Another impression which I personally had before I started to delve into these matters was that it was incumbent upon a landlord to provide every weekly tenant whom he might have with a rent book containing the landlord's name and address. Such an impression, as I am sure your Lordships will know, is entirely erroneous. There are some forms of weekly tenants who are entitled to have a rent book provided for them by their landlords; some classes are entitled to have certain information set out in that rent book, and other classes other information set out in that rent book. But there is a substantial class of weekly tenants who are not entitled to a rent book at all, and that is the second point which we are seeking to overcome in this Bill.
In fact, the objects of this Bill, my Lords, are really fourfold. The first and primary object is that it shall be incumbent by law upon all landlords to provide their weekly tenants with a rent book which contains the landlord's name and address. Secondly, the Bill provides that where the law already provides that a rent book, where it is requisite, shall contain certain information of a specified character, that information shall continue to be required. Thirdly, it lays down that landlords which are companies shall provide their weekly tenants, upon written request, which the agent is bound to pass on to the landlord, with the names and addresses of the directors and the secretary of that company. I think that that is a logical extension of the principle that a tenant should be entitled to know the name and address of his landlord. Next, as a necessary corollary to the other provisions, there is a slight extension of these obligations to local authorities, housing associations and new town development corporations.
At the same time, certain of the powers of local authorities under the Rent Restriction Act, 1933, whereby they are entitled to supply information to 233 landlords and tenants concerning the Jaw as it applies to weekly tenancies of properties, and also to initiate prosecutions where such are liable, are automatically revoked by this Bill and are therefore reinstated in the Bill. Next, the Bill seeks to standardise the penalties which are applicable to the matters contained in the Bill, and in certain instances, my Lords, to increase those penalties to a more realistic figure. In fact, the offences with which the Bill deals carry at the present time penalties which range from £2 for the first offence, through £10 to £50; and so the provisions in the Bill standardise the penalties for all those offences at a maximum sum of £50 for the first offence and £100 for a second and each subsequent offence.
Finally, my Lords, one of the objects of this Bill is to consolidate the existing law. I hope that your Lordships will consider that at the same time it also clarifies it, and to some extent codifies it. It is quite arguable that much of this Bill's contents can be found, in part, in earlier legislation—particularly, for instance, in the 1925 Law of Property Act; but I think that your Lordships will agree that to expect the ordinary weekly tenant, for Whose benefit this Bill is primarily concerned, to know his way about and to find out the particulars contained in the Law of Property Act, 1925, is really asking the impossible. Therefore, the final object of this Bill is to try to provide, within its very limited compass, the law relating to those particular matters which affect the weekly tenant, and so to provide it for him to the exclusion of his having to seek it elsewhere. To that extent, it is a consolidation measure. My Lords, I have tried to explain (this matter briefly to your Lordships. I hope that I have not over-simplified it, and I hope also that your Lordships will see fit to give the Bill a Second Reading.

§ LORD STONHAM
My Lords, we are most grateful to the noble Viscount, Lord Brentford, for his very lucid explanation of this Bill. As he says, it both clarifies and codifies, to some extent, the present law; but I think it does quite a deal more than that. It 234 is going to be quite a useful Bill for many tenants, particularly of slum properties. In my own experience as a Member of another place I often came across cases of people being victimised because they did not have a rent book. They did not even know who their landlord was; and this often led to cases of hardship. Therefore we on this side of your Lordships' House warmly welcome this very useful measure.

THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (EARL JELLICOE)
My Lords, I, too, should like to congratulate my noble friend on the way in which he has explained this measure to your Lordships' House. I do not think that the noble Viscount has suggested that this is other than a fairly modest measure, and I would not suggest otherwise, either, but I feel, with the noble Lord, Lord Stonham, that it is in fact a useful and desirable one.
The relationship between a landlord and his tenant is, by its very mature, a peculiarly close one. It is unlikely to be a satisfactory one unless the obligations which fall on both the landlord and his tenant are satisfactorily discharged on both sides. As some of your Lordships who are familiar with these matters know, there are a number of ways in which some landlords seek to evade their rightful obligations. One method is to make it difficult by one device or another for the tenant to establish direct contact—in order, for example (and it is not an uncommon example), to prevent the tenant from asking the landlord to carry out those repairs which are his, the landlord's responsibility. Only a minority of landlords—and a small minority at that—resort to such practices. Nevertheless, it is clear from the information reaching my Department that evasion of this sort, which sometimes involves very serious hardship on the tenant, is a too frequent occurrence. If, therefore, there are gaps here in the law, it is right that they should be closed, and it is for that reason that I, too, welcome this Bill.
Since my noble friend has explained the objects of this measure so clearly, I, for my part, wish to touch upon only one particular clause in the Bill, 235 Clause 5, which deals with the powers of local authorities. Under the 1933 Rent Act, as I understand it, local authorities can not only publish information for the assistance of landlords and tenants about their rights and duties under the various Rent Acts, but can also institute proceedings for any offence under those Acts. It is dearly desirable that local authorities should still be able to exercise these powers, and to exercise them over the rather wider field covered by this Bill. For example, tenants are often fairly naturally reluctant to institute proceedings of a sort on their own behalf. That is why my right honourable friend the Minister of Housing and Local Government proposes, if and when Parliament approves this measure, to draw the attention of local authorities specifically to it, and to remind them of their duties under it. I have no hesitation in recommending your Lordships to give my noble friend's Bill your approval.