§ Major Wyattasked the Attorney-General whether it is his intention to introduce legislation at any time giving tenants the right to renew ground leases on expiry; and, if so, whether such legislation will include provision that rent payable under the new ground lease should not be more than that previously paid.
The Attorney GeneralIt is not proposed to introduce legislation to give the tenant under a ground lease an absolute right to renew the lease at the same rent when it falls in. Such a provision would be an unjustifiable interference with the freedom of contract and would take no account of the fluctuations in money values which occur over a long period of years. I would remind my hon. Friend that many of these leases were granted nearly a century ago, and since then the money value of land has greatly increased and it is inevitable that rents should have increased correspondingly.