Shorthold Tenancies in London (Hansard, 18 July 1983)

§ Baroness Gardner of Parkes
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, for shorthold tenancies in Greater London a fair rent must be registered by the rent officer within 28 days of the tenancy being granted. For shortholds outside Greater London which began after 1st December, 1981, this initial registration of a fair rent is not compulsory. Instead, the rent may be freely agreed between landlord and tenant, although either party may apply at any time to the rent officer for a fair rent to be fixed. We have no plans at present to change these arrangements.

§ Baroness Gardner of Parkes
My Lords, I should like to thank the Minister for his Answer. Would he inform me whether he is aware of the disastrous effect that this so-called registration of rent is having within the London area, in that it is keeping many properties vacant which would otherwise be available to needy tenants?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, I agree that this subject is part of a whole range of opportunities which were freed by the Housing Act 1980, and indeed it has made a good start with some 5,000 registrations that we know about, but I feel that, with a little bit of political uncertainty since 1980 and the Labour Party's pledge to repeal this activity, it could hardly have been expected up to now to have had a mammoth impact on the private rented sector.

§ Baroness Gardner of Parkes
My Lords, would the Minister confirm that the Rent Act 1974 was the cause of a great many people—British people in particular—being unable to obtain accommodation in London today? If, as I believe, the noble Lord will confirm this, would he tell us whether there is any likelihood of some action being taken to change the situation whereby those few in tenancies have secure rights but any other young British person requiring a tenancy has no hope of getting one, and all the accommodation on offer today is on offer to foreigners?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, I would agree with my noble friend that the Rent Acts generally from 1965 onwards have contributed to the structured decline of the private rented sector. But I do not think that that is the only reason for the decline, because, as we know, there is a confessed wish of a majority of people to live not in rented accommodation at all but in owner occupation.

§ Baroness Faithfull
My Lords, may I ask my noble friend the Minister whether he would agree that, despite what he has just said, an enormous number of young people are unable to find rented accommodation? In the meantime, what would he suggest that they do?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, there are various sorts of tenancies available in what I might loosely describe—but not, I hasten to say, in any legal way—as controlled tenancies. There is also of course the open-ended private rented sector both in London and outside in the provinces.
I regret that I did not answer the second part of the second supplementary of my noble friend Lady Gardner of Parkes in which she asked about the possibility of a review. No such review is contemplated, but of course, as is normal when a new Minister takes over a portfolio, he is having wide thoughts and wide-ranging consultations as to what action he might pursue in the future.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, will the noble Lord deal with the question that his noble friend asked him—namely, that there are a large number of houses available for letting in London which are not let at the moment? This is the question to which the noble Lord has not addressed himself. He can disregard manifestos and policies in the past and deal with the facts as they now are, and the needs of young people in the London area. Will he be good enough to tell us what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government now in regard to that position?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, I have recently been down to the docklands where the policy of Her Majesty's Government is being carried through to the letter. There, buildings are available to let at reasonable rents, and low cost home ownership schemes are being pursued with the utmost vigour. In other parts of London, properties would be rented, first, if landlords were assured that they would get fairness and, secondly, if prospective tenants could afford to pay the rent.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, will the Minister assure us that in these wide-ranging thoughts that his right honourable colleague is having they do not include the possibility of reintroducing to the Housing Bill when it comes through the parliamentary process again any thoughts on the sale of charitable housing association dwellings?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, that is a totally different question, but I make the general point that thoughts are thoughts and I should not like to put any limit on them.

§ Baroness Gardner of Parkes
My Lords, may I ask the Minister to take back to the department the suggestion that action be taken under the Housing Act 1980, Section 52 (4)? Is the Minister aware that that section was the section implemented to remove the control on shorthold tenancies as a requirement of the rent officer?
It says, The Secretary of State may by order direct that subsection (1) (b)above shall have effect, either generally or in relation to any registration area specified in the order, as if paragraph (c) were omitted". Paragraph (c)deals with the necessity to agree a rent with a rent officer prior to offering a shorthold tenancy. Will the Minister take that back to the department to look at that again to see whether such a direction could be made for London?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, this has never been implemented, but I shall certainly take up my noble friend's suggestion with my honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Construction.

§ Lord Wells-Pestell
My Lords, having regard to the need for housing that people can buy in the dockland area, may I ask whether the Minister considers it right and proper that properties being built there should be for sale at £160,000? Some special properties are for sale at over half a million pounds.

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, the need for housing, as in anything else, is for a mix both socially and businesswise and indeed in any other way. I think it is right and proper that both ends of the price spectrum should be present in a particular area of the country.

§ Lord Davies of Leek
My Lords, will the noble Lord say what limits there are on a person keeping a house empty without letting it? Is there a period of time in which he must pay rent or rates on an empty house?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, if a person owned a house, rent would not come into it. I believe that after a certain period it is possible to receive rate relief on an empty property; but I shall have to write to the noble Lord with the details.