LEGAL INQUIRY.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 169, 17 July 1919, Page 8

LEGAL INQUIRY.

iBY A BARRIgTEK-AT-LAW.) Letters of inquiry will be answered every week In this column. As far as possible they will be dealt with In the order In which they are received, and replies will be Inserted with the least possible delay.

OLD SUBSCRIBER.—(I) The deeds are not handed over until the sale Is completed. (2) The vendor is to make good any defects in the title, including the provision of a declaration of identity. It is very rarely that any objection van be made when a contract is signed, the facts at tbat time not being known to the purchaser.

A SUBSCRIBER.—The widow takes one third, and tbe children divide the remainder between them. The estate will simply pay the ordinary death duties.

LOST CHEQUE.—(I) You have a valid claim against the drawer of the cheque. (12) As you suffered n» damage through the bunk's error, you have no valid claim against them.

OVERLOOKED.—The neighbours may object to your putting the hedge on or alongside the boundary. The word "alongside" I do not think has been defined by the Courts, but I think in n case such as you mention a distance of live feet from the boundary would be, reasonable aud safe. '

COLXE.—AII I can advise you to do is.to consult a local solicitor. You do not give sutlicieut details to enable mc lo help you with certainty. All I can say Is that if the employer broke his contract with you you have a right to recover damages from him for the loss you have beeu put to.

PERPLEXED.—XothIng has been done yet to remove" the Mortgages Extension Act from the Statute Book. The matter will lie dealt with in tbe coming Parliament, but it is not likely tbat all overdue mortgages will be made to fall due at once. Probably a sliding scale will be adopted by which they will come hi according to the length of time thefl have been owing.

C. HOUSE.—(II The landlord, on the value you give, is clearly entitled to raise your rent. (2) You are under no legal obligation to deliver the rent to the agent in the city. Rents are payable on the premises. At the same time, it is not usual to object to anything like this, which will be a convenience to the other side.

QUERY.—(I) The five years must be five consecutive years of desertion. {'!) Xo. Such a marriage would be bigamous. Marriages, until dissolved, last until death. N.M.—Yes.

TEETH.—If the guarantee is clear aud undoubted, then you may decline to pay the chnrge for repairs.

SOLDIER'S WIFE.—Yon are, of course, liable for the solicitor's fee for the work he did at your request, mid I do not understand why you propose to claim from him the amount of those fees, retained by lilm out of moneys he had lv hand. Anyhow, changing the solicitor will make no difference to your claim, whatever it may be.

CRIB.—I am sorry I cannot tell you whether or not you are under any obligation to pay the increased rent. Roughly you may be required to pay 8 per cent of the capital value, and this will probably be luterprcted by most magistrates to mean the capital value according to the present cost of building.

F.L. —You are under no legal obligation to pay the plumber, but if the work was necessary, and you .have lipneflted by it, it would only be reasonable and lair to pay him.