Leaseholders

Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Lloyd of Berwick

Monday 10th November 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

The noble Lord raises the issue of reform of leasehold legislation. The Government are aware of a number of concerns in the leasehold sector and have welcomed suggestions of how resolutions on leasehold can be improved, but at the moment they are not persuaded of the need for wholesale reform. The Government want to ensure that all leaseholders have appropriate avenues for resolving disputes. I will write to the noble Lord on the specific issue of the EU directive.

[Lord Lloyd of Berwick (CB)]

My Lords, in an area of the law where there is much existing legislation, as is I think accepted, does the Minister agree that the only way in which the leaseholder could find out his rights would be if the law were consolidated from time to time? Consolidation is a boring thing to do, as I know from experience, but it is important. Will he please give it a boost on this issue in particular? I ask the question as a former chairman of the consolidation committee.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

All attempts to bring laws together across the field are welcome. The Government are making serious efforts on the issue of leasehold and the sharing of information. As I already alluded to in my original Answer, we have taken various steps to ensure that leaseholders are able to access information about the redress scheme and information about the First-tier Tribunal. There are also other efforts we are making, such as the model tenancy agreement, as a way of ensuring higher standards in this particularly important sector.

Defamation Bill

Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Lloyd of Berwick

Wednesday 19th December 2012 Grand Committee

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, I note with great interest that everyone referred to my noble friend Lord McNally, but it falls upon me at least to attempt to address some of the issues raised. I am mindful also of the fact that some holiday reading was put forward, and I now realise why my noble friend suggested that I deal with these amendments—I will be travelling to Australia and, rather erroneously, I asked him to suggest some reading for my long trip. Now I know what it will be.

I should like to respond to the various amendments in the group, Amendments 11, 11A, 12 and 13. Amendments 11 and 13 relate to Clause 3(3). The subsection reflects the test that has been approved by the Supreme Court in the case of Spiller v Joseph. This provision has been included to address the concern of the Joint Committee on the draft Bill that unless an indication of the subject matter on which the opinion is based is included it is difficult to assess the real nature of the criticism that has been made.

Including the word “adequately”, as proposed by Amendment 11 in the name of my noble friend Lord Phillips, would make no difference to how the provision would operate in practice. In order to succeed in establishing the defence, or indeed any other defence, the defendant will have to show that all the conditions attached to the defence are adequately met. If the way in which they are met is not adequate, it will be inadequate and by definition will fail. We therefore do not consider that this amendment is necessary at this time.

My noble friend also referred to Clause 8, which deals with a different situation, where the material is republished by the same publisher. Clause 3(6), however, deals with situations where the defendant is not the author of the statement—that is, where the newspaper editor publishes a comment piece written by someone else.

I move on to Amendment 13, in the name of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick. It is true that this issue was flagged up at Second Reading. He referred to the specific assurance that he suggested was given, whereby a detailed letter was to be sent to him. If that has been overlooked, I am sure that the officials and my noble friend have noted that, and we will write to him quite specifically.

[Lord Lloyd of Berwick]

Regretfully noting such a thing is not enough. I was promised a reply and it did not come. Something more than noting is required.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I thank my noble friend for his questions. I can give him an assurance that we will write to him on the specific points that he raised. That will allow for a proper period of reflection.

[Lord Lloyd of Berwick]

I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Lester, for his support for this amendment, and indeed to other Members of the Committee, some of whom have spoken with particular knowledge of this aspect of the law. The noble Lord, Lord Lester, was concerned about the language of the amendment, and of course I accept that the wording could be improved. It may be that it is in fact too narrow in the sense that it refers only to newspapers and not to other places where articles might be published. It is the sort of thing that can be dealt with very easily if only one could have some sort of conversation on these matters with Ministers.

The noble Lord also said that it might be dealt with sufficiently with a statement under Pepper v Hart. There I think I would disagree with him. The point in Telnikoff v Matusevitch is so important in the law of defamation that it ought to be dealt with specifically so that it is on the face of the Bill, not just through a statement from the Minister. Nevertheless, I am grateful for his support.

As to the reply, of course I accept the apology offered by the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad. However, these things should not happen and it is not the first time it has happened, even to me. One is told that one is going to be written to, but then one is not, so it is important that when the Government say that they are going to write, they should in fact do so. There is simply no purpose in raising points at Second Reading unless they can be dealt with properly at the Committee stage. In this case, of course, that has not been possible.

There were two questions for the Government to consider. First, do they accept that the decision of the House of Lords was erroneous? They have not dealt with that at all. Secondly, if it was erroneous, is that point made sufficiently clear in Clause 3 as it stands? On that I very much echo the statement of the noble Earl on the other side of the table. My view is that it is not sufficiently clear and I can see no reason why it should not be made sufficiently clear. It does not cost the Government anything to accept an amendment of this kind. Although I necessarily will not press the amendment, I intend to raise the matter at the next stage.

Trusts (Capital and Income) Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Lloyd of Berwick

Tuesday 23rd October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My noble friend is correct. The Bill makes minor modifications and there is obvious scope to look at this issue further.

[Lord Lloyd of Berwick]

My Lords, I add my tribute to the work of the Law Commission in relation to the Bill. It is a short but useful Bill. In Clause 1 we say farewell to a number of old friends familiar to generations of law students, if to nobody else. Clause 4 is important since it gives greater flexibility to the trustees of charitable trusts. All in all, the Law Commission is to be congratulated on producing a valuable reform of the law and I look forward to its next instalment.