§ 3.18 p.m.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I beg to move that the House do now resolve itself into Committee (on Recommitment) on this Bill.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly.
§ [The EARL OF LISTOWEL in the Chair.]
§ Clauses 1 to 106 agreed to.
§ Clause 107 [Powers of local authorities for the purposes of giving information]:
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR moved, in subsection (1)(a), after the first "duties" to insert "under Part III of the Rent Act 1965 and". The noble and learned Lord said: I beg to move the first Amendment standing in my name, and the Committee will perhaps agree that I should refer also to the 1325 other three Amendments on the Marshalled List which, as your Lordships will see, are in substance exactly the same. These are drafting Amendments, due to an error which was discovered only after the matter had passed the Joint Consolidation Committee. It consists in the fact that in consolidating the minor and consequential Amendments in Schedule 6 to the Rent Act 1965, the fact was overlooked that paragraph 3, paragraph 5(3) and paragraph 7 of that Schedule have an effect on Part III of the Rent Act 1965, which is not repealed by the Bill, as well as on the main provisions of that Act, which are repealed by or consolidated in this Bill. I have heard from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Upjohn, the Chairman of the Committee, and he regrets that this point was not observed by the Committee.
§ This is one of the largest consolidations there has ever been. It consolidates all or part of 24 different Acts dealing with rent, 12 of which it repeals altogether. Your Lordships may feel that as the field of law which the Bill consolidates is really unparalleled in its complexity, the effects of the consolidation will therefore be correspondingly great. Certainly to any lawyers, or anyone else who has to deal with our extremely tangled rent law contained in these 24 different Acts, it will be a great boon to have them all consolidated as they are in this Bill. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 66, line 38, after ("duties") insert ("under Part III of the Rent Act 1965 and").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 107, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clause 108 [Prosecution of offences]:
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORThis Amendment is one on the same point. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 67, line 20, after ("Act") insert ("or under Part III of the Rent Act 1965").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 108, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clauses 109 to 115 agreed to.
§ Schedules 1 to 14 agreed to.
1326§ Schedule 15 [Amendments of other Enactments]:
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORThis Amendment is on the same point. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 112, line 38, after ("under'') insert ("Part III of the Rent Act 1965 or under").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORThis Amendment also is on the same point, and I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 116, line 45, after ("under") insert ("Part III of the Rent Act 1965 or under").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Schedule 15, as amended, agreed to.
§ Remaining Schedules agreed to.
§ House resumed: Bill reported, with Amendments.