My Lords, we have spent two hours on this group of amendments. It is probably the second-most important group in the Bill, after the one we dealt with last week. There were more than 45 amendments down, so I make no apology that we have spent considerable time discussing them.
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I particularly like the right reverend Prelate’s amendment and his comment that he was attempting to skew the balance slightly further in favour of leaseholders. He made a compelling case. I am delighted to hear my noble friend the Minister say that we should work together to get something drawn up; I assume that means ASAP over the next two weeks so that we have it for Report.
I thought there was considerable merit in the introduction from the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, of the concept of “material breach”. She made a very strong case that leaseholders have been treated as second-class citizens in comparison with freeholders. My noble friend Lord Young of Cookham is absolutely right that we need proper leasehold reform; this is not the Bill to do it in but, before we conclude on the fourth day, I hope we will have a statement from the Minister on when we can expect a proper leasehold reform Bill. I know he will use the standard formula, “I cannot presage what may be in the Queen’s Speech”, but we need that Bill. My noble friend was also right to draw attention to the right reverend Prelate’s amendment, putting the obligation on landlords to create tenant associations.
While I agree with my noble friend Lady Neville-Rolfe that impact assessments have their place, how long would they take and who would do them? Would it be civil servants, who might not have the detailed knowledge, or industry experts, who have the detailed knowledge but might not be as impartial as we want? No one is unbiased in this. Excessive powers have been granted to people who have a considerable say over how residents live their lives and what they will have to pay. Residents and residents’ associations must be consulted.
As for the noble Lord, Lord Stunell, I cannot comment on his speech in detail since I did not understand most of the technical details of it, but he seemed to make some very good points. The noble Lord, Lord Khan of Burnley, summed it up well: more consultation is needed. I think he was giving support to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans; I hope Labour will give that support on Report. If my noble friend the Minister cannot come up with a workable solution and the right reverend Prelate puts down his amendment, I look forward to the noble Lord, the Labour Party and the Lib Dems supporting it, along with some rebels on this side.
The Minister said he was almost tempted to vote for the amendments from the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley. As Whips, we always used to say to our people, “For God’s sake don’t listen to the Opposition—you might end up voting with them”. I never thought I would hear a Minister say the same thing.
On my amendments, the Minister rightly pointed out that, if all my regulatory suggestions were put in the Bill to begin with, as chair of the Delegated Powers Committee I would have condemned them for all their excessive powers. However, if you want to be a politician, you have to learn the art of doing a U-turn as quickly as you can. I accept that many of my amendments are apparently unnecessary, as they were already somewhere in the Bill but I could not find them. That is partly my responsibility, but I have said that this Bill is a bit of a dog’s breakfast in the way it is all mixed up; if it were a bit more simply laid out, I might have been able to find them.
Nevertheless, I am glad the Minister has reassured me that they are not needed and they are all being done in any case. The only one he is not doing is the engagement strategy. He said that there will be an engagement strategy, but no engagement with people before it is published. That seems a little cock-eyed to me.
I am very grateful to all noble Lords who have participated today. I am grateful for the Minister’s responses and I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.