§ Flight-lieutenant Teelingasked the Attorney-General whether he will consider issuing a regulation to define whether the term cessation of hostilities, for the purpose of altering rent agreements entered into during the war, refers to the European war or covers also the period of the Japanese war; and as to how soon after such termination of hostilities, property owners may raise rents.
The Attorney-GeneralI would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the Validation of War-Time Leases Act, 1944, Section 2 of which provides that, unless the context otherwise. requires, or it is shown by admissible evidence that the tenancy agreement should be otherwise construed, references in tenancy agreements to the end of the war or to the cessation of hostilities, are to be construed as referring to the war, or to those hostilities in which His Majesty was engaged at the time when the agreement was made. As to the second part of the Question, the answer must depend upon the construction of each individual agreement apart from properties within the scope of the Kent Restrictions Acts.