CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 39, 16 February 1943, Page 2

CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

FAIR RENTS

To the Editor. Shortage of houses is definitely' acute and many people are desperate. I advertised in your paper last week a six-roomed house at 25/ and received 175 replies, As the girl at the counter remarked, I'd need a handcart to get them home. Many applicants stated they were in houses that had been Sold and owners wanted possession, and one applicant said the owner was entitled to possession, and he, the tenant, was ready and willing to vacate if he could get another house to go to. This proves that the majority of tenants are decent people, and I'm sure no property owner Avould ask this man to put his furniture in the street. In my own case, the letting of houses has been more or less a business, and I can look back to a time before the Fair Rents Act, when a tenant would owe you six or seven months' rent, and you simply wrote it off. Since the Fair Rents Act, as far as I know, all tenants are paying, so we must admit that the Fair Rents Act has done some good, as well as some harm. Some of the letters received to my advertisement, were from owners who had bought houses and wanted possession, and the case of "Honesty" must be an isolated one. as all these people spoke highly of the tenants. A further letter from "Fed Up" shows great hardship on her side, but has her tenant anywhere to go? She was foolish, to my mind, to buy a house with a tenant. We property owners must not forget that there was a time when we were very glad to, get a good tenant, and I can remember the time when I advertised houses for a whole week without one reply To settle and adjust these matters we want a Court of Equity (a little more justice and less law). LANDLORD.