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Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants Etc.) Bill

My hon. Friend talked earlier about seeking such money back from the landlord. Unfortunately, if we were to take that approach all that would happen is that we would speed up the process of repossession. If a landlord is already having his house or flat repossessed because he is unable to pay the rent, attempting to claw back the money that has been paid in housing benefit would not really work. I understand the point that my hon. Friend is making about ensuring that the tenancy is legitimate and the authorisation appropriate, but I am not sure that this Bill is the best place to do that. I hope that the Bill will go through Committee as quickly as possible and get on to the statute book. I encourage anybody who sits on the Committee to concentrate on the Bill, because I do not want any excuses from the Government about delay, as the Bill might thus not become law. If lots of extraneous amendments are tabled to important provisions, that could be used as an excuse when the Council of Mortgage Lenders later decides that it is getting cold feet about the Bill and the Government then say that they do not have parliamentary time available. That is my greatest fear. I suspect that such a situation might be the reason why these provisions did not end up in legislation earlier this year or in the Queen's Speech; I suspect that the Council of Mortgage Lenders decided to throw its weight around and the Government said, "Do you know what, we will hold off doing this." Let us not provide the Government with any excuse for not supporting the Bill. It is iniquitous that a tenant who has fulfilled all their obligations should find themselves in a position where they may lose their home. It is difficult for someone who is renting to ask to see details of their landlord's arrangements with their mortgage provider; that is not something one would ever expect a tenant to do, so such tenants take their tenancy in good faith. The hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies), who is no longer in his place, talked about tenancies that are not given in good faith. I have to say to him that a two-month delay is not significant in the grand scheme of a process of repossession, and I am not sure that it is a reason for not supporting the Bill's progress.