Clause 46 - Powers of entry: notices
Fire and Rescue Services Bill
3:15 pm
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
The hon. Gentleman is right. We can all envisage the situation: the premises have been damaged, and the person who was occupying them has moved out, but there are enough of his things there to make it reasonable that he should have notice if someone is going to come prodding around in his possessions. How do we get notice to him? In 90 cases out of 100, we will know where he is and it will not be a problem. In the other 10 cases, we can pin the notice on the premises. If he is a diligent occupier he will probably have a look very regularly to ensure that his semi-secure premises still have not been broken into or squatted in. However, it is not satisfactory to have notice served on him by post at those premises.