'HELD TO RANSOM'

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 297, 15 December 1936, Page 8

'HELD TO RANSOM'

HOMELESS PEOPLE.

INFRINGING FAIR RENTS ACT

MINISTER "TO TAKE STEPS."

The statement that apparently the housing shortage was being used by some house owners to exploit people seeking for homes was made to-day by the Minister in charge of the Pair Rents Act, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong.

The Fair Rents Act, the Minister explained, provided that it is illegal to require the payment of a premium for a vacant house to which the Act applied, and any such payment might be recovered by the tenant as a debt due to him by the landlord. Evidence was accumulating, Mr. Armstrong added, that homeless people were being held to ransom by profiteers. Mr. Armstrong wished to draw attention to what was taking .place, and lie was considering what steps should be taken to check what was being attempted as a means of defeating the Fair Rents Act.

"Evidence is also accumulating," the Minister continued, "that rents far in excess of those allowed by the Act are being asked for vacant homes." He drew the attention of prospective tenants to the provisions of the Act, which applied to future tenancies as well as to tenancies existing as at the date of the passing of the Act. The Act, of course, did not apply where a house was let for the first time as a dwelling after the passing of the Act. If any tenant, Mr. Armstrong said, considered that the rent asked was in excess of what he considered a fair rent for the premises, or if he had been asked to pay a premium in respect of the tenancy, he should consult the local office of the Labour Department.