Clause 56 - Licence conditions
Housing Bill
4:15 pm
Mr Matthew Green (Shadow Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Local Government & the Regions; Ludlow, Liberal Democrat)
Far be it from me to be in the position in which Ministers often find themselves of having to defend the word ''reasonable''—an argument that seems to plague Ministers in every Committee of which I have been a member. We are
discussing ways of dealing with antisocial behaviour. That is the purpose of the clause. There is a limit to what a landlord could do to control the antisocial behaviour of tenants, so the word ''reasonable'' refers to what reasonable steps can be taken. That is slightly different from prescribing to a landlord exactly what they will do to control their antisocial tenants. That is difficult to detail precisely and a test of reasonableness is needed, which is what I believe Ministers have to trot out every time the question is asked.