Clause 71
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [Lords]
9:00 am
Vera Baird (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Redcar, Labour)
Good morning, Mrs. Humble. In this part of the Bill, rent is defined as the amount payable under the lease for possession and use of the premises, including any interest payable or VAT chargeable. We are content with that definition. It follows the Law Commission’s recommendation in its report on distress for rent in 1991, which relied on a ruling in T and E Homes Ltd. v. Robinson in 1979. We think that rent should be sums that are attributable directly to the tenant’s enjoyment of the land. Items such as service charges, repair costs, insurance premiums and so forth, which are directly attributable to something else—not enjoyment of the land—do not fall within the definition of rent and should be excluded.
There are, of course, other ways in which to recover such money, but it is not appropriate that distraining for rent, albeit that it is now abolished for domestic premises by the Government and applicable only to commercial premises, should have application to anything beyond rent. The issue of certainty is important because it is a non-court remedy and rent is certain, while service charges will not be. That is our reasoning, and I hope that it has reassured the Opposition.