Clause 82 - Offences in relation to licensing of houses
Housing Bill
3:30 pm
Mr Robert Syms (Poole, Conservative)
I am partly satisfied, although the Minister still has not gone far enough. It is possible that if there were a major landlord with several properties in a town, a lender trying to get vacant possession of several of those might cause a serious housing problem in the short term—if they had the right to do that. I repeat that if someone has got into financial difficulties, their affairs may not be in order and it may take a while for a reputable institution to sort things out. I would not want the full power of the law to fall on someone who was trying to sort out a situation for the benefit of the community—for the investors in a bank or building society, or the tenants, who might be glad that circumstances had changed. We may have to return to this item during later sittings. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Amendment made: No. 47, in
clause 82, page 55, line 32, leave out from 'so,' to end of line 34 and insert
'one of the conditions set out in subsection (8) is met.
(8) The conditions are—
(a) that the period for appealing against the decision of the authority not to serve or grant such a notice or licence (or against any relevant decision of a residential property tribunal) has not expired, or
(b) that an appeal has been brought against the authority's decision (or against any relevant decision of such a tribunal) and the appeal has not been determined or withdrawn.
(9) In subsection (8) ''relevant decision'' means a decision which is given on an appeal to the tribunal and confirms the authority's decision (with or without variation).'.—[Yvette Cooper.]
Clause 82, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.