It seems to me that, both in this matter and in others, the Bill has no kind of relation to any previous rent Act. Every time we try to bring forward, as my hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mr. Graham Page) has done on this occasion, something which has been sacrosanct in previous legislation, we are told that it is not applicable under the Bill. Although I am on the side of the Government in wanting the Bill to work, I am beginning to wonder exactly what they are doing in the property world. This slim but rather stiletto-like Bill will cut right across the legislation of past years.

My hon. Friend has raised a point regarding the rights of a mortgagee vis-à-vis a mortgagor of a property of which possession cannot be obtained. The position is being changed. We are told that we should let matters take their course and let the judge make up his mind. That is all very fine, but let us spare a thought for the judges in these cases. We shall confront them with legislation which they will have to put into force in about the middle of January without giving them any guidance whatever. They cannot refer to previous principles of rent legislation.

I beg the Government to make sure, before we pass the Report stage and part with the Bill on Third Reading, that, without damaging the effect of the Bill and what they want to do, its terms are such that ordinary people and the judges and lawyers who will have to administer it can properly understand it. In some cases, apparently, one is supposed to look back to previous legislation; in others one should not. In some cases, the Bill will stand by itself, and in others goodness knows where it will stand. If it is important as emergency legislation, it is important enough to be drafted properly.