§ Mr. Bevan,in pursuance of his reply to the supplementary question put byCaptain CROWDERon 4th April(OFFICIAL. REPORT, Vol. 421, C. 1375),supplied the following letter:
Ministry of Health, Whitehall,
London, S.W.r.
R.A.
2nd April, 1946.
DEAR SIR,
I am directed by the Minister of Health to say that a good deal of misunderstanding seems to have arisen about the operation of Circular 224/45 on the subject of the charges to be made to the occupiers of requisitioned premises. He thinks it would be helpful to authorities if he restates more clearly the precise basis on which rents should be assessed.
The maximumcharge to any tenant of requisitioned premises should be the controlled rent, or, if the premises are not subject to control or the controlled rent is not known, the equivalent of the controlled rent.
This charge should, however, be reduced where it is higher than the tenant would normally pay. In the case of tenants who would normally occupy Council houses if enough Council houses were available, the rent asked should be the rent which the Council would ask for comparable accommodation on one of their own estates; and the Minister thinks it would be right in present circumstances for the Council to take a pretty wide view of the class of tenant who would normally occupy Council houses. Further, if the premises are larger than the tenant really needs, the rent charged should be only the rent which the Council would ask for accommodation of the extent which he does need.
Tenants who would normally occupy houses more highly rented than Council houses should be asked to pay a rent equivalent to the rent which they would normally pay (always, of course, subject to the maximum of the controlled rent); and this can usually be judged by reference to the type of accommodation they were occupying before they were bombed out or for any other reason had to have recourse to requisitioned premises.
I am to emphasise that no question of a means test arises. The only question which the Council have to determine is the type of accommodation which the tenant would occupy in normal times and the rent appropriate to that accommodation.
I am also to remind the Council that where they judge the tenants to be tenants who 271W would normally occupy Council houses, they have discretion to operate a rent rebate scheme in precisely the same way as they have discretion to operate a rent rebate scheme for their own houses.
The Council should now reconsider the charges they are making and satisfy themselves that these. charges are in accordance with the terms of this letter. If, following the issue of Circular 224, the Council have charged and received rents higher than those they find appropriate following the explanation in this letter, overcharges should he repaid to the occupiers.
Yours faithfully,
S. MAYNE.
The Town Clerk, or The Clerk of the Council.