New Clause 3. — (Application of Section (Notification of Unoccupied Dwelling-Houses).)

Part of Local Government (Scotland) Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 9 November 1966.

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Photo of Dr Dickson Mabon Dr Dickson Mabon , Greenock 12:00, 9 November 1966

I cannot remember if the hon. Gentleman was present through all the stages of the Rent Bill. I sat through them all. I remember the argument about Service men being raised many times unreasonably to weaken the provisions of the Bill. A Service man is no different from other owners of property. A Service man letting his house must ensure that someone is left in charge to look after the house, quite apart from the person coming in in a contractual relationship with him as a tenant. There must be someone, perhaps a bank manager who is responsible for the payment of various charges on the house, perhaps running payments of different kinds. There must be a friend, if not a bank manager, who is responsible in case the house is damaged or in case the tenant behaves unreasonably while the service man is serving his country out in Brunei, or wherever it may be. One would expect that the local authority would try to ensure that these owners were properly notified.

One of the few constructive points which have been made was that made by the hon. and learned Member for Pentlands about valuation notices. I take this point. I do not know whether the hon. and learned Gentleman is right. He usually is. I will certainly look into it and see if it is a fair point. In reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Dundee, West (Mr. Doig), if there are defects in the procedure we should naturally want to look into that aspect. If some of my hon. Friends who have not spoken care to write to me about any points of doubt they have, we shall certainly consider the points they raise. We shall improve the Clause, if it is possible.

In our discussions with the local authority associations it was made clear to us that, if we were to have any change in Clause 20, but not the full change demanded by my hon. Friends and with no change in the time interval, we had to have some system of retrospection.

As for the penalty, about which several points were made, may I ask this question? If it is reasonable for us to have this procedure or some modified form of this procedure on which to hang new Clauses 3 and 4 and make Clause 20 sensible, is it suggested that we should strike out the penalty? Perhaps I may repeat a question put to me by one of the treasurers. He said, "If that is the case, is there to be a penalty? If there is not to be a penalty, it will not work". The treasurer was impeccable in his logic. If there is no penalty it is conceivable that this will not work.

5.30 p.m.

The Government make this provision with great reluctance. We do not want to introduce penalties if they can be avoided. The impression must not get about that the Government have been indolent about this. I have worked very hard on it and my right hon. Friend has been most concerned to get the right answer. These two new Clauses, with Clause 20, are essential parts of the Bill. Some of my hon. Friends may have reservations as to procedure in one or two cases, but I ask them to stand with the Government on this issue for the sake of the local authorities and of those desperate for houses.