§ 80. Mr. Hoyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will introduce legislation to ensure that moneys received by a landlord from the War Damage Commission and spent by him on repairs to property shall not entitle him to increase tenants' rents under the Housing (Repairs and Rents) (Scotland) Act, 1954.
§ Mr. MaclayParagraph 9 (b) of the First Schedule to the Act already provides, in regard to the repairs increase in rent, that any work, the cost of which is reimbursed under Part I of the War Damage Act, 1943, is to be disregarded for the purpose of satisfying the condition relating to the landlord's expenditure on repairs.
Sir G. Lloydasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give a list of rent increases, and the percentage rise involved, imposed by individual local authorities in Scotland during the past 12 months.
§ Mr. MaclayAccording to Press reports, a number of authorities have decided in the last twelve months to increase rents, but authorities are not obliged to inform me of rent changes as they occur. I have therefore no specific information later than that given in the Rent Return published in June, 1956 (Cmd. 9773) which gives the rents charged by local authorities in November, 1955. A return relating to November, 1956, is due to be published in June, 1957.
Sir G. Lloydasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of the total number of houses owned by local authorities in Scotland are let at £1 a week and under; and what is his estimate of the proportion of the total of privately owned houses of a comparable size which 156W will still be rented at £1 and under when the present rent legislation comes into force.
§ Mr. MaclayThe latest Return of Rents, which relates to 1955, shows that all but one quarter of one per cent. of the permanent houses owned by local authorities in Scotland were let, on average, at rents of less than £50 per year.
I have no means of estimating what rents will be charged for privately owned houses which the Rent Bill now before Parliament proposes to decontrol.
But, taking into account the effect of the Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act, 1956, under which all rents in Scotland will, as from May, 1957, be reduced by the amount of owners' rates payable in 1956–57, virtually all the houses that remain under control will have rents of £1 a week or less, even where the increases permitted by the Bill for good repair are imposed.