I move recommendation No. 2:—
Section 2, sub-section (2). After the word "maintenance" in line 6 to insert the word "management."
The Minister was good enough yesterday to indicate more or less that no line of argument which might be made would make him change his mind to accept any of these recommendations. Consequently, it may seem more or less futile to give any reasons for them, but our business is to give reasons for what we believe to be correct, whatever the consequences may be. In moving this recommendation I propose to state briefly what I consider to be the case for it. As was pointed out yesterday it is agreed that at the present time it is possible for persons, where the valuation is more than one-sixth below the rent, to make the claim that they shall be charged on the actual income and not on Schedule A. According to information given to me, at the present time these persons are entitled to include reasonable management charges amongst expenses. The Minister considers that he is making a concession in this particular case. We will not reargue the word about which we slightly differ, but it does seem to me that when the Minister is endeavouring, even to the extent of the £5 which he has agreed to, to meet the cases which have been made he surely might treat them in the same way as they are treated at the present time and include reasonable management expenses.
I think I am correct in stating that the effect of the new section introduced by the Minister in the Dáil is to provide that the person who makes this claim is really in the hands of the Revenue Commissioners. As it stands at the moment it is their opinion that will decide. The matter is one almost entirely in their discretion. That means that they will exercise their discretion and give this in every case which they consider reasonable. If the Minister would only change his mind and accept the word "management" it does not mean that the individual would be entitled to charge any sum on earth and say: "that is management expenses." It means, of course, that he would have to satisfy the inspector and, if necessary, the Revenue Commissioners themselves that the sum included for management is reasonable, just as he has to do in the case of repairs. I am in a difficulty because I cannot see any case now for suddenly excluding management. It seems to me that there is a perfectly reasonable case for including it, if you agree, as the Minister does, up to the £5. We differ about the figure. The Minister agrees that there are certain landlords who have these small properties who can prove that in certain years, in order to keep the properties in decent repair and condition, they spent a certain sum on repairs and who actually did not get from these properties a sum that was equal to the valuation.
Where there are a number of properties it is well known that these people cannot collect the weekly rents themselves. Consequently, there is expenditure involved in collecting the rents. Generally speaking, it is the business of the agent who collects the weekly rents to report whether repairs are necessary. It seems to me that management includes to a very large extent, if not the actual repairs themselves, at any rate the cost of the supervision which leads to the repairs and the keeping of the property in a decent condition. I would again urge on the Minister that he might be a little more generous even as far as the £5, and see that there is a case for including reasonable management expenses. I do not want to go into details as regards the word "management" for the reason that the whole section is at the discretion of the Revenue Commissioners. Therefore, in practice it would mean that what they would allow as management would also be at their discretion.