A LANDLORD'S RIGHTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 236, 2 October 1920, Page 6

A LANDLORD'S RIGHTS.

TAXES POSSESSION OF HIS HOUSE. NEIGHBOURS TO THE RESCUE. While a landlord can still exercise his rights under common, law, he is yet placed irf the peculiar position of being unable to get that assistance from the Court, in the case of an eviction, that he was entitled to prior to the enactment of the new war legislation. Having already failed to secure an ,order against a tenant occupying his dwelling in Hamilton East, a certain local landlord decided, yesterday afternoon, to exercise his rights under the common law and to re-enter. Hβ forthwith journeyed over during the afternoon, and finding the front door open, entered. He was met by the lady of the house, and when he informed her in as polite a manner as possible that he had come to take possession, she replied that he was fortunate in having found the door open, as they had been anticipating some such action, and had made a practice of keeping the door closed and the windows locked. The lady then promptly ra"ng up her husband, who is head accountant for one of the large- stock firms in the town, and he, hurrying home, ordered the landlord off the premises. As the latter stubbornly refused to quit, the husband sought the aid of the police, who informed him, however, that they were unable to assist him in his trouble. As time was drapering on, and the parties were still arguing stubbornly over their respective rights, the landlord decided on a definite course of action, and commenced to remove the furniture from the kitchen and scullery into the washhouse. He had just completed removal operations, and was about to isolate the two rooms from the rest of the house by locking the doors, and then to take his departure, when there loomed up in the fast failing light a company of sympathetic neighbours, headed by the irate 'tenant. On scenting an unwholesome tanjj in the atmosphere, the landlord decided that discretion was, at the moment, the better part of valour, and he promptly locked himself in. He was then besieged for a considerable time, until Constable Berne, getting wind of the trouble, rode along on his bicycle and counselled the besiegers against acts of violence. Darkness had by this time fallen, and the investing army drew the constable's attention to the fact that the landlord's motor oar was standing in the roadway without liehte. The lull in the watch outside afforded the landlord an opportunity of escape, when the constable immediately informed him that he would be prosecuted for allowing hie motor rar to stand without Tvroper and sufficient lights attached. Under the protection of the officer the landlord then entered hie car, only to find that his tail-lamp had been emptied of fuel, and he was only able to proceed on his homeward iourney after borrowing a suoply from the constable's lamp while the neighbours were areuing the legal merits of the case with the constable. The tenant has since, we understand, re-entered the locked rooms, and the next move is awaited with interest by the neighbours.