READY TO LET.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 291, 8 December 1937, Page 8

READY TO LET.

FIRST STATE HOUSES.

COMPLETION AT ORAKEI. TENANTS MOVE IN NEXT WEEK Possession was obtained by tSie Government to-day of the first houses completed on the State block at Orakei, twelve houses in Coates Avenue being handed over by the contractors to the State Advances Corporation.

Within the next few days the tenants for these houses will be advised that they are ready for occupation and will probably move in towards the end of next week. Meanwhile, the work of concreting paths and tidying up is being attended to.

Although the number of houses in the first nrroup over which the Government has secured ownership is small, the occasion is important as representing the arrival of the tenancy stage for which the public has waited. It is expected that further houses will become available at the rate of three a week.

A hundred houses are nearing completion. and a further 00 are well forward, some having the interiors partially finished. The work on the last 40 on the lower slopes is now being actively pushed on, and the concrete foundations of many are ready to receive the framework. Thus the progress of the Government's first housing scheme in Auckland to-day represents every stage of housing, from the excavations for the laying of the foundations to the finished buildings.

Altogether 212 houses are to be built on "the Orakei estate, the sizes being a variety of four, five and six room#!, with variations also in the design and materials. Most noticeable from a distant view is the contrast in colour of the roofing tiles.

Under the terme of the contract the contractors are required to maintain the houses during tfce first twelve months. Before the actual occupation the tenants will he required to sign tcnancv agreements. The range of rents on the first houses will be from 20/ to 32/ a week, with a rebate of 2/0 for good tcnancv, but it is expected that this ran?" will he somewhat widened as more houses reach Hie renting stage.