Orders of the Day — Tenants' Rights, Etc. (Scotland) Amendment Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:09 pm on 25 October 1983.

Alert me about debates like this

Mr. Milian:

It is quite appalling that the Government should produce a Bill—we have the Second Reading today — without consultations with COSLA, Shelter, Age Concern or housing associations. There has been no consultation on the right-to-repair provisions. There are no details of the scheme and, what is more, this will all be done by regulation. When we have the scheme, there will be no way to amend it.

I was told this afternoon—and I could hardly believe it—that the Government believe that the Bill should go into Committee next Tuesday. If that is their idea, they should disabuse themselves of it straightaway. If the Bill goes into Committee next Tuesday, they will make no progress with it until we have more details of what is provided for under the right to repair. Unless we have these details before the Bill goes into Committee, I warn the Government that they may put the Bill into Committee but they will be a heck of a long time getting it out of Committee. We must have these details before we discuss the matter in Committee.

Tenants' dissatisfaction about repairs is a genuine problem. There is probably more dissatisfaction about that than about any other aspect of housing. It is true that there is a common law right to have repairs carried out, but anyone who has tried to exercise that right, particularly against a private landlord, will know that in practice it is an extremely difficult thing to do. I do not agree with the Scottish Tenants Organisation, which says that this should be left as a common law right. It would be nice if we could do that, but it does not work in practice. It is not enforceable without considerable difficulty. Even if we agree the principle of the right to repair, we must get the details right because if we do not tenants will be in a worse position.

We already have the DoE document. It would have been nice had the Secretary of State told us that he had in mind something like that document because he has already told us that he will make two amendments to the Bill, apparently slavishly following the DoE's proposals for England. At least the DoE document is available; we have nothing from the Scottish Office.

What is the scope of the repairs that will be covered? What will be the value of repairs? What will be the procedures for the way in which the tenant should approach the landlord? What will be the procedure for the response? What will be the grounds for refusal? What about the respective rights of tenant and landlord when approval is given? How much will the reimbursement be? The DoE document mentions 75 per cent.; not 100 per cent. Is that what the Government have in mind? Perhaps the Under-Secretary of State will tell us when he replies. How will the reimbursement be calculated? Will it be on standard costs or on the actual costs that the landlord estimates? That is an important matter.

What about those—the Secretary of State acknowledges the problem—who cannot afford to spend the money in the first instance, particularly the elderly? Age Concern has expressed anxiety about them. The anxiety is not only that, as they may not have the money in the first place, they cannot participate in the scheme; the anxiety is that if the scheme were a success and was taken up by people who could afford the outlay, who were more aware of their rights and were more aggressive in asserting them, there could be a diversion of repair effort which ultimately would be to the detriment of those who were not able to participate in the scheme. Local authorities are not working with limitless or expandable budgets for repairs. If one group of tenants is exerting its rights, it may be at the expense of others who for one reason or another cannot exert theirs. There is a danger of squeezing out.

I should like now to deal with the question of appeal to the sheriff. If one tells an ordinary person, a council tenant, that if he has a dispute with his landlord he can appeal to the sheriff, he will think that that is a joke. With all respect to the Secretary of State, if there is to be an appeal there will have to be an appeal procedure which does not involve an appeal to the sheriff. There must be some other appeal procedure. These are preliminary points that can be exhaustively considered in Committee.