HC Deb 09 November 1943 vol 393 cc1099-100W
Mr. Robertson

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why it is necessary for an American citizen who owns and lets a house in Britain to produce the tenancy agreement to the Bank of England Exchange Control Department before he is permitted to deposit the amount of rent received to the credit of his blocked account with a British bank?

Sir J. Anderson

Permission is required for any payment to be made by a resident in the United Kingdom to a resident outside the sterling area, and the application to make such a payment must be accompanied by suitable evidence as to the nature and amount of the payment. Payment of rent is most suitably evidenced by production of the tenancy agreement. My hon. Friend is, however, under a misapprehension on two points. It is the British tenant, and not the American landlord, who is called upon to produce this evidence; and if permission is given, the payment would not be credited to a blocked account, but would be to a registered, i.e. freely transferable, account.