Member

Finally, I will speak to Amendment 67, tabled in my name. This amendment probes the Government’s reasoning for applying consideration of the past impact of behaviour in cases involving shared HMO accommodation, but not the continuing impact nor the future effects of repeated behaviour. We believe that this amendment offers a straightforward improvement to the drafting of the Bill. The same consideration of impact against other persons under the 1988 Act should surely apply equally to those sharing HMO accommodations or facilities. From these Benches we struggle to understand why the Government have chosen to apply only subsection (2)(a), on the past impact of behaviour, in this instance. Does the Minister agree that the ongoing impact of behaviour really matters? This may be well be an honest drafting oversight, but we believe that the Government should apply the whole of subsection (2) here. As I have already noted today, the legislation is technical and detailed, and so where we believe we can help to amend for accuracy, I hope to constructively put such amendments forward for debate.