Part of Finance Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:30 pm on 18 May 2004.
The amendments would deal with the basis of the valuation of the rental arrangement. At present, they are drafted to provide for gross rental only. We can see no reason why they should not include the more typical tenant repairing lease. For what it is worth, many of my constituents have written to me and made that specific point. As far as I am aware, the Government have not tabled any amendments to deal with that issue.
The drafting has been picked up from the Rating Act 1966. It is blatantly unfair that people, in cases where there are repairing leases, who have acted entirely properly and within the spirit of the law in paying the right rent and all the rest of it, should be undone as a result of the arrangements covering gross rental arrangements as opposed to typical tenant repairing leases.