Mr. Stephen Faughnan:

On a point the Chairman raised about long-term letting and selling property in vacant possession, the trend has changed significantly in that regard. Pre-1963 properties are now selling with tenants in situ. In the past three-to-six months, that has taken off quite successfully.

As we have mentioned previously, the long-term leasing is a great idea, but the costs involved, that are being pushed down to the private rental sector, are making it prohibitive. We have energy conservation coming down the road and that will cost a great deal. It would be good if we had some sort of certainty from Government where we would enter into a long-term arrangement in which we would have control on costs to a certain extent.

I thank the committee for its time and I thank the members for their questions. I hope we have been of help to the committee. If, as I stated at the outset, there are matters on which the committee wishes to have clarification, more information or any backup, we would be pleased to provide it.