HL Deb 19 June 1984 vol 453 cc156-8

The Lords amendment is printed in bold type

1 Page 83, line 20, at end insert—

("3A) The provisions of Part I of the said Act of 1967 shall not apply to a tenancy of a dwelling-house which is a house which is created by the grant of a lease in pursuance of Chapter I of Part I of the 1980 Act or Part I of this Act, nor to a sub-tenancy derived (whether directly or indirectly) from that tenancy, in any case where the landlord is a registered Housing Association and the freeholder is a body of persons or Trust established for charitable purposes only.

(4) Where, in the case of a tenancy to which this subparagraph applies, the tenant or the tenant under a sub-tenancy directly or indirectly derived out of the tenancy exercises his right to acquire the freehold under Part I of the said Act of 1967, the price payable for the dwelling-house shall be determined in accordance with section 9(1)(A) of that Act notwithstanding that the rateable value of the dwelling-house does not exceed £1,000 in Greater London or £500 elsewhere.

(5) Sub-paragraph (4) above applies to—

  1. (a) a tenancy of a dwelling-house which is a house which is created by the grant of a lease in pursuance of Chapter I of Part I of the 1980 Act or Part I of this Act;
  2. (b) a tenancy which is granted in substitution for a tenancy falling within paragraph (a) above in pursuance of Part I of the said Act of 1967; and
  3. (c) where in any case that Part applies as if there had been a single tenancy granted for a term beginning at the same time as the term under a tenancy falling within paragraph (a) above and expiring at the same time as the term under a later tenancy, that later tenancy.").
The Commons disagreed to the Lords amendment (to insert sub-section (3.A)) but proposed the following amendments in lieu thereof

[As Amendments to the Bill]

2 Page 82, line 46, at beginning insert —

("Part I of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (enfranchisement and extension of long leaseholds) shall not apply where, in the case of a tenancy or sub-tenancy to which this sub-paragraph applies, the landlord is a housing association and the freehold is owned by a body of persons or trust established for charitable purposes only.

3 Page 83, line 2, leave out from ("the") to ("as") in line 3 and insert ("said Act of 1967").

[As Amendments to Amendment 1]

4 Line 10, after ("tenancy") insert ("or sub-tenancy").

5 Line 11, leave out ("or the tenant under a sub-tenancy directly or indirectly derived out of the tenancy").

6 Line 18, leave out ("Sub-paragraph (4) above applies") and insert ("Sub-paragraphs (1) and (4) above apply").

7 Line 21, at end insert ("and any sub-tenancy directly or indirectly derived out of such a tenancy").

8 Line 22, leave out paragraph (b).

9 Line 25, leave out ("that Part") and insert ("Part I of the said Act of 1967").

10 Line 29, at end insert ("and any sub-tenancy directly or indirectly derived out of that later tenancy; and sub-paragraph (4) above also applies to a tenancy which is granted in substitution for a tenancy or sub-tenancy falling within paragraph (a) or (c) above in pursuance of Part I of the said Act of 1967".)

Lord Bellwin

My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth not insist on their amendment to the Commons Amendment No. 1 and doth agree with the Commons Amendments Nos. 2 to 10 in lieu thereof.

These amendments need not detain your Lordships for long. I will speak first to Amendments Nos. 1 to 10. Your Lordships may recall that Clause 1 will extend the right to buy to property where the landlord's own interest is leasehold. It will give secure tenants the right to purchase a long sub-lease of their homes, assuming they meet the normal qualifying conditions. Under the terms of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, long leaseholders of houses would normally be able to go on and enfranchise their leases and acquire the freehold.

However, an amendment modifying this provision was successfully moved against the Government by my noble friend Lord Selkirk when the Bill last came before this House on 10th May. The effect of that amendment was to allow all eligible tenants to purchase a long sub-lease of their homes, but to deny rights of enfranchisement to tenants of housing associations where the association's interest in the property is leasehold and the freeholder is a charitable body.

On further reflection the Government have decided to accept the substance of my noble friend's amendment. As I said on 10th May, I do not regard it as a wholly logical amendment. It is not clear to me why this distinction should be drawn between housing association and local authority leasehold property; nor why we should be providing additional protection for charities which are in many cases those already enjoying special protection under the provisions of the Leasehold Reform Act. But the Government have to accept that there is strong feeling on this issue in your Lordships' House, and we have therefore decided to accept the substance of the amendment.

The present amendments are simply designed to tidy up the drafting, and to ensure that the 1967 Act will be disapplied not only in respect of the right-to-buy sub-lease, but also in respect of any contractual extension to that lease.

I should like to congratulate my noble friend for winning this particular argument —with the very able support, as I am sure he would be the first to confirm, of my noble friends Lord Molson and Lord Coleraine. Clause 1 has raised some exceedingly complex issues and the argument has been long and difficult. But I hope the position we have now reached will be acceptable to my noble friend and to the House.

Moved, That this House doth not insist on their amendment to the Commons Amendment No. 1 and doth agree with the Commons Amendments Nos. 2 to 10 in lieu thereof.—(Lord Bellwin.)

The Earl of Selkirk

My Lords, I expect that the Government will be only too glad to get this Bill out of its parliamentary phase. It has been before us, one way or another, for the best part of two years. I should like straight away to thank the noble Lord, Lord Bellwin, for the courtesy he has invariably shown through what has been in part a very difficult Bill, and for the care he has taken in numerous letters to explain points which have been raised in the course of debate. The House can be well satisfied with the redraft which the draftsman has put before us today, and I hope that it will work out satisfactorily.

I must admit that I am a little sorry that the Department of the Environment should still feel a little doubtful about the wisdom of this Bill —but I am confident that as the years pass the department will be glad that they did not insist on what I thought was a pretty unsatisfactory arrangement of the kind we had before. We should acknowledge that we probably do owe something to my noble friend the Leader of the House for the manner in which he has enlightened his colleagues on what this amendment actually does. We should be very grateful to him.

I will only say again that we should be very grateful also to the noble Lord, Lord Bellwin, for the immense amount of trouble he has taken with this Bill —as he has with all the other Bills with which he has been dealing.

On Question, Motion agreed to.