§ Sir R. Gowerasked the First Commissioner of Works, on what grounds, in requisitioning sets of offices and dispossessing the occupying tenants, he offers to pay a rent based only on hypothetical considerations at the outbreak of war, and much lower than the rent which the tenants themselves have, under the law, to pay to their superior landlords; and whether he is aware of the resentment among tenants at what they consider is exploitation?
§ Mr. RamsbothamAs I pointed out in my reply to a Question put by my hon. Friend on 25th January, the method of assessing compensation in these cases is laid down by Statute. Such compensation is not necessarily less than the rent.reserved in the lease. I do not accept the suggestion that, because the Statute does not require the State to pay the tenant whatever rent he may have agreed to pay his landlord, a case of exploitation can fairly be supported.