Thank you. The notice period between Royal Assent and final abolition strikes the right balance between protecting social housing stock and giving tenants reasonable notice that the rights are ending. Provisions within the Bill ensure that tenants will receive information within two months of Royal Assent. This gives them a further 10 months before final abolition to submit an application to buy their property.

Twelve months is a fair and reasonable amount of time. It gives tenants sufficient time to take proper financial and legal advice on the implications of home ownership. The case in Scotland has been mentioned, and the Scottish Parliament agreed a notice period of two years between Royal Assent and final abolition, although the committee that scrutinised the Bill in Scotland recommended a minimum period of a year. The Scottish legislation also didn't contain any detailed provisions to ensure that information was provided to all relevant tenants as soon as possible following Royal Assent, which is a key provision for our Bill. The right to buy ended in Scotland on 31 July 2016, and, throughout the year to the end of September 2016, there were 37 per cent more applications during the year than the previous year. So, there certainly was a spike in Scotland, despite the fact that they had a two-year period.

So, in Wales, tenants will be able to exercise the right to buy at any time up until the date of abolition, and this process does not have to be completed before abolition takes place. The report from the ELGC committee stated that the majority of stakeholders were content with a 12-month notice period. The ELGC report concluded that

'the minimum 12 month notice period strikes an appropriate balance between

the need to provide tenants with adequate time to exercise their rights, and the need to prevent the further loss of social housing stock as swiftly as possible.' 

I therefore ask Members to reject amendment 12 and related amendment 4.