RENT RESTRICTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 162, 10 July 1924, Page 4

RENT RESTRICTIONS.

IF THE ACT EXPIRES. HOW TENANTS WILE BE EFFECTED. The possibility of the rent restriction legislation which expires on July 31 being discontinued is a matter of importance to the many thousands of oeople who rent houses, and in the opiuion of one prominent man in the building I trade, the discontinuance of the legislation will be a very serious matter for . numbers of the working classes. ' "It is no use arguing that the Act . restricts building," said this authority, "because such is not the case, and the Act docs not apply to any dwellings * built since November, 1920, and a land- ' lord owning such a house can charge whatever rent he likes, or can get. * Nobody has had more to do with the - working of the Act than I have, and my opinion is that unless it is continued those people who are paying rjnt are going to experience trouble. Of course " there are many decent landlords in Auckland who are satisfied with a fair thing, but there are others again who will try to get all they can —and a bit more." "In what way do you anticipate trouble?" asked the reporter. "Well, that is easy to answer. Take last year, for instance. Under the Act a landlord is entitled to seven per cent clear on the capital valuation of his property, and any inclination on his part to get more than that may be objected to. In order to assist tenants who may be exploited, the Labour Department has an officer, whose duty it is to value the property, and oppose any demand for an excessive rental. The Act fixes the 1914 valuation as the basis, but my experience is that the officer generally works round about the 1920 valuation, i which, of course, is in the landlord's favour, besides which something more than seven per cent clear is allowed. You would think that a fair thing, but all landlords are not satisfied, and last year the Labour Department dealt with hundreds of objections. Now, what is going to happen in those cases if the legislation is not continued? Simply this. The landlord will go along and say to the tenant: "Your rent in future will be —, I and if you are not prepared to pay it, : you can get out." Every one of those hundreds of tenants who objected to having the rent increased will be called upon to pay more, and the bartering, | which, to a great extent, the Act pre- ' vents, will develop into a serious evil. Bartering for houses is one of the chief causes of high rents. Houses are nowadays let to the highest bidder, and many people paying, say, 30/ to-day would be paying £2 or more were it not that the Act prevents the landlord from getting possession of the house unless he wishes to reside in it himself. But if such legislation is lifted then anyone can come along and offer a landlord a few shillings a week more for a house, and unless the tenant is prepared to pay a like amount then out he will haVe to go. I know of instances, numbers of them, where persons are paying exorbitant rents now, and are prepared to do so; but if the landlord could get possession a bigger rent still would be , charged." j The Solution. A builder interviewed thought that I the solution of the difficulty as now ex- j isting, and likely to become more acute, was to lift the duty on all imported timber and other building materials. At , the present prices it was impossible to build dwellings which a worker was able to purchase. He instanced the i houses erected by the City Council, and expressed the opinion that they were too elaborate, and the cost could be cut down considerably if much were left to the purchaser to finish. "The by-laws are too drastic, and it has got that way now that a man must go to the extent of employing a licensed plumber if he wants a nut screwed on, or a washer fixed to a tap. If a lot of the embellishments provided for in presentday dwellings were omitted, or left to the purchaser to carry out, the cost would be considerably less." Another builder stated that in 1900 the cost of labour to build a five-roomed cottage was about £40, but that amount would be eaten up in the fitting out of a bathroom riow. Admitting the cost of labour was now a big item he, too, thought timber was dearer than it should be. Euild To Sell. In the opinion of a city architect of 20 years' standing the Rent Restrictions Act had not restricted the building of dwelling houses. "In my experience I have rarely known of a man build a house for letting. With very few exceptions all houses are built" either to sell or for the owner's use," he said.