§ Mr. Allan Robertsasked the Minister of Transport (1) if he will list in the Official Report the number of houses owned by his Department which are rented to members of the public;
(2) how many of the houses owned by his Department are to be offered for sale to tenants;
(3) what discount will be offered to tenants renting houses from his Department who wish to buy their homes.
§ Mr. FowlerA total of 1,306 houses and other dwellings acquired by my Department for highways purposes are let direct to members of the public until 287W they need to be demolished for road-works, and 1,588 to local authorities, housing associations and other Government Departments who in turn let them to tenants. However, 344 of the houses let directly are now unlikely to be needed because of changes in road plans; their tenants will have an opportunity of buying them at sitting tenant value, which involves a substantial discount on market value. Other surplus properties are normally offered to the organisation currently renting them and sales to the tenants are a matter for them.