Housing: Private Rented Sector (Hansard, 24 January 1990)

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, we believe that the new Housing Act is encouraging the supply of privately rented accommodation, offering tenants greater choice and providing a better return for landlords. Furthermore, the Shelter report Forced Out contains evidence that the tough new sanctions which we introduced against harassment in that Act are proving to be effective.

§ Lord Dean of Beswick
My Lords, is the Minister aware that of the 26 local authorities surveyed, 85 per cent. of them noted an increase in harassment and illegal evictions? Is it not sad that out of the 255 complaints made, only 13 led to prosecutions? Is he further aware that those figures are a direct contradiction of what he says? It was not good enough for the newly appointed Minister in another place to try to discredit the report by saying that the Act had not been in place long enough to indicate what was happening, when he himself had been in the department for less than a fortnight. This is a 1061 serious report. When the Bill was being discussed the Government were made aware of the fears of noble Lords that this might well happen. Will the Government take urgent action to prevent the problem growing and indeed do something to get rid of it completely?

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, I am sure the House will be interested to know that only 48 out of 412 local authorities were actually contacted regarding producing these figures. However, it is important to show that the Government believe that we are seeing satisfactory success from the Act. In Lambeth, a tenant received total damages of £46,000 under the new Act; in Blackpool, a tenant received damages of some £17,000; in Reading, a tenant received some £8,500; and in Westminster, one landlord received six months in prison.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, is the Minister aware that the figures he announced refer to only a small part of the nation? Is he further aware that Shelter has from time to time been both a guide and a critic of all governments? Can he say precisely whether or not he in particular has read Shelter's recent comments to which my noble friend referred?

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, not only do I have in my folder a copy of Forced Out, but I have actually read it. The Government believe that we must increase housing provision in this country partly by using the private sector. I remind the House that in 1919 90 per cent. of the population lived in rented accommodation. That figure has fallen to some 8 per cent. It is below the 30 per cent. figure in West Germany and France. The initiative shown in the Budget whereby the return of the institution of providing capital encouragement by taxation in the business expansion scheme has produced investment of some £370 million which would not otherwise have existed and which should be added to the total overall housing provision. That rented accommodation will provide relief to local authorities where people who do not wish to buy will be able to move out into a restored private rented market.

§ Lord Stallard
My Lords, the Minister's replies do not bear any relationship to the facts. These facts come not only from Shelter but from surveys up and down the country. The Minister's statistics were even more selective than the ones he accused Shelter of producing. The Housing Act 1988 has failed in its alleged objective of producing more housing for rent. Landlords are now finding it easier to obtain evictions.

Noble Lords
Question!

§ Lord Stallard
My Lords, is the Minister aware that landlords are now finding it easier to obtain evictions? Is he further aware that there are now more illegal evictions than ever? Does he accept that homelessness is on the increase? Does he further accept that the houses that are being emptied as a result of the provisions of the Act are not being returned to the rented sector but are being sold 1062 because of their high capital value to the landlord? Does he not accept that something has to be done about the Housing Act 1988?

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, the Government are committed to broadening the basis of housing and the choice that is available to the population. The Government are interested in the consumer. The Government do not have the obsessional hatred of landlords which resulted in the abolition of one-third of the housing sector of this country.

§ Baroness Fisher of Rednal
My Lords, does the Minister agree that the Government have an obsessional hatred of local authorities? Is he confident that the housing associations will be able to take over the role of local authorities in providing the massive number of houses that are needed not only in London and the South-East but all over the country? Is he confident that the Housing Corporation and the housing associations will be able to provide housing not only for the homeless but for the thousands on housing registers?

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, the fact is that the Government have absolutely no intention of taking over the local authorities' housing stock. Local authorities have some 29 per cent. of the housing stock. We believe that local authorities should be the directors and the enablers, and that in future the housing associations should be the new arm of development for public sector housing.

§ Lord Dean of Beswick
My Lords, in his earlier reply the Minister indicated once again that the Government saw this particular Act as a major solution to the question of rehousing the homeless. However, he did not give us any concrete evidence other than the fact that one person had received a prison sentence for violating the law. Therefore that person can no longer be deemed as homeless. Can he now give us figures to indicate in any respect whatever how many people have left the homeless queue and been rehoused in private tenanted property as a result of the Act? I should tell him that I cannot find evidence of any.

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, I am most: surprised that the noble Lord, Lord Dean, should try to confuse your Lordships by returning to the previous Question on the Order Paper. The Government have provided an initiative which has surprised everyone in the way in which it has been taken up. The housing, or rent, provision, which is additional —I repeat, additional —to those figures which were projected, provides opportunity of a diverse nature in housing in this country.