§ Lord Evans of Claughtonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will clarify the phrase "on these terms" which was used by Lord Bellwin in his reply to the Unstarred Question on leasehold reform printed (Official Report, 3rd June, col. 1330).
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Bellwin)In the phrase "on these terms" I was referring to the terms of a special kind of lease, which became common in certain areas of England and Wales in the second half of the last century. This was known as the building lease. Instead of selling freeholds, owners granted 99-year leases of plots of building land for substantial premiums on condition that the lessees put on to the land a house of a specified kind, or alternatively sold the land with a new house on it on such a lease.