Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants Etc.) Bill

My Lords, I declare that I have interests in property rental. I, too, welcome the Bill of the noble Lord, Lord Best. I shall keep my comments brief, because the Bill is largely uncontroversial and, indeed, passed through the other place with cross-party support. My honourable friend Stewart Jackson MP described the Bill in Committee as, ""very much for the public good".—[Official Report, Commons, Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants Etc.) Bill Committee, 10/2/10; col. 6.]" As the noble Lord, Lord Best, made clear, the Bill is required because circumstances in the housing market have moved on a bit since Parliament last legislated for the protection of tenants, and a loophole has become apparent. That loophole may affect around 2,000 to 3,000 people a year. That might not seem like very many, but given that the consequences may be a family being thrown out of their home on to the street, it is extremely important that we move to close it. As has been said, estimates from the homeless charities Shelter and Crisis put the figure at a possible 224,000 unauthorised tenants who are at risk. If the figure is accurate, it makes the case for this Bill even more pressing. As the noble Lord has explained, the Bill is designed to protect a category of tenants who are renting properties which they should not be because the landlord has acted in contravention of his agreement with the mortgage lender. If the landlord defaults, the mortgagee will begin to claim possession against the property, leaving any tenant in a difficult position. The problem will not be the same with buy-to-let properties because the mortgagee will know at the outset that there is going to be a tenant in the property and therefore protections will apply. Where the mortgagee is ignorant of the tenants, perhaps because of bad faith on the part of the landlord mortgager, the noble Lord, Lord Best, is asking that we approve a two-month notice period to be given to the tenant. We fully support that idea because two months does not significantly delay the mortgagee’s claim on the property. It would be different if the tenant could apply repeatedly for a stay under the Bill, and I understand that both the noble Lord and the sponsor of the Bill in another place, Brian Iddon, have worked closely with the department to get the wording right. Only one postponement is permitted on an application by the tenant to the court. In order to make an application, of course, the tenant will need to know that moves on the property are afoot. I am pleased to see that the noble Lord has considered that point because under Clause 2, the mortgagee must give the tenant notice of the execution of any possession order, and specifically he must give notice, ""at the property of any prescribed step taken for the purpose of executing the order"." But the prescribed steps are to be defined by the Secretary of State, so can the noble Lord, Lord Best, or the Minister give some indication of what those prescribed steps may be? Despite that request for clarification, I can give the Opposition’s support for the Bill and I congratulate the noble Lord on bringing forward these sensible proposals. We hope very much that this Bill will be allowed to pass into law.