Mr. John Mark Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has about the incidence of moneylenders raising false anxieties in the minds of elderly council tenants concerning their future security of tenure, as an inducement to those tenants to exercise their right to buy, on the basis of a loan agreement under which the lender succeeds to the title to the property on the tenant's death; if he has any plans to introduce legislation to make this practice a specific criminal offence; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George YoungI am not aware of such practices, but would naturally deplore them. Any information which my hon. Friend can provide will be carefully considered.