Orders of the Day — Clause 23 – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 19 October 1976.
Lords amendment: No. 18, in page 31, line 1, leave out from beginning to end of line 14 and insert:
(4) On a reference under subsection (3) above the arbitrator—
and shall accordingly, with effect from the relevant time, vary those terms in accordance with his determination, or direct that they are to remain unchanged;
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
With this, we may discuss Lords Amendment No. 19, in page 31, line 23, at end insert—
(4A) The compensation referred to in subsection (4)(a)(ii) above is—
These Government amendments were made in response to strong pressure at the Committee stage in another place and after consultation with the Country Landowners' Association and the National Farmers' Union.
I should explain that at the end of a tenancy of an agricultural holding the tenant can claim compensation from his landlord for various matters as laid down in the Agricultural Holdings Act. The claim will include such matters as tenant's improvements, for example buildings, cultivations and unexhausted manurial values. Offset against this is the landlord's claim for dilapidations, for example, for breaches of the tenancy agreement. Examples under this heading would be uncleaned ditches, interior decorations to buildings and foul land. This is the outgoing valuation.
At present, when a new tenant enters into occupation of the holding he pays to his landlord, as ingoing, the compensation for tenant right matters which has been paid by the landlord to the out-goer. This obligation is by contract though and not by statute, and can no longer apply when the family succession scheme comes into effect.
It was never our intention that the family succession provisions should interfere with this normal flow of in-going and outgoing payments between landlords and tenants and we had not previously realised that problems might arise.
I do not think that it is necessary to explain the amendments in detail. I do not expect that they will arouse much passion.