Seventeenth Report
Instruments of interest
1. The Department for Communities and Local Government
(DCLG) have laid the Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed
Information) Order 2007 (SI 2007/797). It applies to landlords
who have let their property on an assured shorthold tenancy and
taken a deposit as security, and prescribes the information that
a landlord must give to a tenant in such cases. The Explanatory
Memorandum states that 60% of consultation respondents considered
that there should not be a requirement for a landlord to provide
an inventory, and that, since the Government agree, inventories
will not be prescribed. DCLG have separately published a summary
of consultation responses, and this states that 60% of respondents
in fact supported the proposal that an inventory should be agreed
with the tenant. DCLG have acknowledged this discrepancy, but
have assured the Committee that the issue has been extensively
discussed with representative groups, notably with the Tenancy
Deposit Protection Advisory Group which endorsed DCLG's view not
to make an inventory part of the statutory information.
2. The Serious Organised Crime and Police
Act 2005 (Designated Sites under Section 128) Order 2007 (SI 2007/930)
will permit the police to arrest intruders in the 16 named Government
sites and Royal Residences; the Palace of Westminster is also
included. The Order responds to the police recommendations made
following incidents in Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, where
it proved impossible to prosecute the intruders, by making such
intruders liable to a new offence of criminal trespass. Maps in
the schedules to the Order designate the boundaries within which
the power of arrest will apply: in relation to Parliament it includes
the Palace and Portcullis House but not the Peers' car park or
any of the buildings on the Millbank side of the road.
3. The Smoke-free (Signs) Regulations 2007
(SI 2007/923) form the fifth and final part of the package
of regulations which will come into effect on 1 July. We note
the extensive consultation that took place in preparing these
regulations and commend the Department of Health's pragmatic response
to the issues raised in relation to the size and positioning of
the notices so that much of the existing signage will be compliant.
4. The Department of Finance and Personnel (Northern
Ireland) have laid the Rates (Maximum Capital Value) Regulations
(Northern Ireland) 2007 (SR 2007/184). The Regulations introduce
a cap on rates liability for domestic properties in Northern Ireland,
set at a capital value above £500,000. The Explanatory Memorandum
states that the Government agreed to introduce this cap as a result
of the St Andrews Agreement, giving confirmation of its intention
when the House debated the Rates (Amendment) (Northern Ireland)
Order 2006 (2006/2954) on 7 November 2006. The 21-day rule was
breached in laying the Regulations to ensure that they take effect
from 1 April 2007, the beginning of the rating year.
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