Clause 83 - Further sanctions relating to unlicensed
Housing Bill
4:15 pm
Mr Edward Davey (Shadow Secretary of State for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Local Government & the Regions; Kingston and Surbiton, Liberal Democrat)
I can assure the Under-Secretary that I am not going to press the amendment to a Division. It was designed as a probing amendment, and it has been very helpful in provoking the debate. It was good that the hon. Lady gave assurances to the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings that she would go away and consider the matter again. I have begun to understand the issue a little more as the debate has progressed, as other hon. Members have spoken. I have begun to understand the complexities that we are dealing with. Nevertheless, that does not mean that the provisions are quite right yet, although I now understand a little more about how the interim management orders will relate to the licensing regime.
Concern was raised about the time period, and how quickly the interim management orders will come into place. Are we talking about a matter of days and weeks? Are we to allow a landlord to have several months to decide what action he will take during the period that he is not receiving any rent? The practical considerations will be absolutely key to whether or not the problems we have been discussing actually occur. I hope that the Under-Secretary will be able to discuss the interim management orders and give some clarity on their timing.
The Under-Secretary talked about incentives, and I understood the force of her argument, but I wonder whether there will be incentives for the landlord to offload the property to another landlord. I know that there are provisions in the Bill covering associates of landlords which are intended to prevent the continuing shuffling of property between different people, perhaps in the same family, to avoid regulations. However, there may be an incentive to offload property between different landlords, and the Under-Secretary must be clear that that will not be possible.
The other incentive is sale. The Under-Secretary may say that the seller would not receive a high price. Perhaps not, but the incentive will still be there, particularly if the house has appreciated a little. There are some incentives for landlords to act in a way that would be deleterious to tenants' interests. This is a serious issue.
I am glad that we have had this debate and that the Under-Secretary gave us assurances. We will need to return to the matter, probably on Report, because it is important and perhaps the hon. Lady, through written communication with members of the Committee, could give us a little more reassurance that the perverse incentives that we are concerned about will not happen. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 83 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 84 ordered to stand part of the Bill.