New Clause — (Repayment of estate duty on property included in a clearance area.)

Part of Orders of the Day — Finance Bill. – in the House of Commons at on 11 June 1934.

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Photo of Sir Patrick Hannon Sir Patrick Hannon , Birmingham Moseley

I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

This Clause, which stands on the Paper in my name and the names of some of my hon. Friends, embodies proposals with reference to relief of property owners in this country, which, I hope, the Financial Secretary will see have real substance. The Clause aims at the repayment of Estate Duty on property included in a clearance area. Members of the Committee are familiar with many cases throughout the country of great hardship on owners of property subject to clearance by having assessment of Estate Duty on an Inland Revenue basis of which they have no possibility of realising, as they only receive a nominal sum for site value, of property under clearance orders. It is the fact that estates are liable for payment of Estate Duty when followed by a condemnation of the property for clearance purposes. The Estate Duty having been assessed, and a subsequent clearance order having been made, it means that the owners have practically no relief at all from the burden of payment of Estate Duty.

There are two valuations in the case of property in this country. One is the Inland Revenue valuation for the purpose of Estate Duty, and the other is a valuation for site value for clearance purposes under the Housing Acts. This Clause is designed to give relief on payment of the Death Duties under those valuations. It endeavours to provide a remedy where, for instance, you have freehold property ordered to be demolished. The Clause provides for the repayment of Estate Duty on the difference between Estate Duty paid on the property and the amount which would have been payable if the land had been cleared of buildings. It is obviously a measure of justice, and I am sure that the Committee will see the propriety of having some provision of this kind embodied in the Finance Bill. Again, where leasehold property has been ordered to be demolished, the Clause provides for the repayment of Estate Duty which has been paid on the house alone, and, further, in the case of compulsory purchase, the estate should be allowed to recover the difference between the amount of Estate Duty actually paid and the amount which would have been paid if the valuation had been at a compulsory purchase figure. In the judgment of those who have prepared it and of Members of this House who are giving close attention to many of the grievances from which property owners now suffer under clearance schemes, the Clause is regarded as a reasonable one to be embodied in the Finance Bill.

There are several safeguards which are embodied in the Clause. There is a five years' period during which a claim can be made by the administrators from and after the date on which the Estate Duty or Succession Duty have become payable in respect of the property, and the date of the condemnation of the property for clearance. If the property has changed hands within five years of the date on which the Estate Duty or Succession Duty became payable, then no application for easement will be entertained. Further, there is a provision in the Clause that property must be kept in reasonably good condition. Sometime ago the Minister of Health received a deputation which I had the honour of introducing to him, dealing with the very complex and embarrassing question of slum clearance in many of our industrial areas, and he was kind enough to say that cases of hardship would be taken into individual consideration so far as the provisions of the Housing Act would admit. In this particular case, we are pleading with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury not to impose in the Finance Bill a grave hardship on property owners when they become subject to a clearance order, but to accept the new Clause.