Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Housing
John Lawrence Whitty (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I too have some amendments in this group. The House may be surprised, but I agree with the first remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, that we have seen a clear response from the Government to the anxieties on this section. While there was some concern that the Government had come up with a whole new clause to the Bill rather than the one that was passed in the Commons, and a fear that the Government were under some pressure to dilute the effectiveness of the amendment carried in the Commons, the Minister and her officials, in the amendments they are proposing, have seriously recognised that danger and have responded admirably in general to fulfilling the intent of the Commons’ Motion while making it less subject to doubt or indirect unforeseen consequences It is quite a complicated amendment in the first place, and the additional amendments which, under pressure, the Government have added today make it more complicated. Nevertheless, it is a basis on which we can all move forward. Certainly most of the campaigning groups in the area recognise that this is a huge step. There are, however, three anxieties which these and my later amendments address in part The first is that by leaving quite a lot of this to secondary legislation, it is probably inevitable that the actual right to the MRO will not come into force until about a year later. That is a disappointment. Nevertheless, I understand the reasons for it. I also have some problems about the threshold, which I shall come to in a later group. In this group, my main anxiety and that of other noble Lords and those who have met the Minister is that one of the triggers for the MRO, which was clearly required under the Greg Mulholland proposition and relates to the point of the MRO still being available after sale, is greatly reduced as a result of the government amendments. I agree with some of the amendments tabled in this area by the noble Lord, Lord Stoneham, as I do with some of the others I am sorry about the complication here, but my Amendments 33AW, 33AX and 33AY are themselves amendments to the fairly long government Amendment 33AV. They deal with a situation where the pub is sold in the course of a rent agreement to an owner who is not covered by the code. All the protections in the lease seem to move over, but the right to the MRO does not. The Government have addressed this in part by ensuring that the restructuring of companies will not be a way around the provision. In other words, the large pub companies cannot break themselves up so that they fall under the threshold. However, it is still the case that if a non-large brewer or pubco takes on a tied pub, while all the other protections in the code will apply the MRO option will not The Government have said that the option will apply for the duration of the lease, but that is not much comfort to those who are nearing the end of their lease. My first two amendments therefore deal with giving a bit more certainty to people who are faced with the sale of their pub, generally speaking over their heads, when they are not at the end of their lease. In other words, they suggest that there should be a 10-year period. I am not absolutely wedded to 10 years, but there should be a period during which whoever is the new owner, this one aspect of the rights of the tenant should be carried over with the lease in the same way as all other rights are carried over. The two amendments assume a period of 10 years. As I say, if the Government want to come up with a slightly different formulation, I will be happy to consider it The final amendment, Amendment 33AY, relates to the drafting of government Amendment 33AV, which seems to drive a coach and horses through the interaction of proposed new subsections (2A) and (2E). They would both restrict the availability of the MRO post sale to a non-qualifying company and dilute the role of the adjudicator in relation to the new circumstances. There may be a more subtle way of doing this, and the Government may say that there already is one, but I cannot see it in their amendment. A tenant who has the lease and by the clear will of the House of Commons now has the right to an MRO ought to continue to have that right under a new owner for a period of time and to have the right to enforce the MRO option by right of access to the adjudicator. Taken together, my three amendments would do that The Government may have a better way of doing this, and if they do we would like to hear about it either now or at Third Reading. Indeed, I remind the Minister that the point of sale issue was one of the great many contentions put forward by Greg Mulholland in the Commons and was clearly one of the triggers which the House of Commons voted for. If that is pulled away, the will of the Commons will not be fully represented in that respect. I repeat that I pay tribute to the Minister and her officials for respecting the other aspects of the Commons amendment. I would be interested in what the Minister has to say on this point, but I think that my amendments would actually help the situation.