Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of the old council housing authorities in Northern Ireland operated a deposit system under which future tenants put down a sum of money when receiving the tenancy of a house; how many of these deposits are now still held by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive; what is the total sum involved; and if, since the Housing Executive does not operate such a deposit system, he will approach the Executive and ask it to repay the deposits to the tenants.
§ Mr. Carter, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 13 March 1979; Vol. 964, c. 142–3], gave the following information:
I understand that 41 of the former local housing authorities in Northern Ireland operated a deposit system. Individual deposits ranged from £2 to £10.
The deposit records of these authorities have been found to be incomplete but the contingent liabilities of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in respect of 589W former local housing authority deposit systems and that operated by the Executive itself until 1976 are approximately £420,000.
If a tenant of the Executive can authenticate payment of a deposit, the executive will refund this amount on application, cither on the termination of a tenancy or when the tenant reaches the age of retirement.
I see no reason to ask the Executive to review its policy on this matter.