LAND SALES ACT

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24123, 6 December 1943, Page 4

LAND SALES ACT

■ ——« —‘ — OPERATION UP TO END OF NOVEMBER CANTERBURY FIGURES Of 253 applications for approval of property transactions filed with the Land Sales Court in Canterbury up to the end of November, 121 had been dealt With by the end of the month. Of the 132 still under action more than 70 were awaiting valuations for the Crown and 54 had been received in the last three days of the month. The Deputy-Registrar of the Court in Christchurch (Mr J. W. Harvey) gave these figures when he was asked to comment on a letter to the editor of “The Press” alleging that weeks must elapse before a case was heard by the Land- Sales Committees and that, even after a favourable decision, weeks more must elapse before the buyer could get possession. ■ Mr Harvey said that of the 121 applications which had been disposed of, 85 had been granted without a hearing by the committee. In most of these cases there had been no need for a valuation, because the Crown representatives were satisfied that the prices were reasonable and there had been practically no delay in getting the committee’s decision. In some cases, however, the Crown representative could not agree to a price without obtaining a valuation, when there might be a delay of up to a fortnight The act provided that after a committee had made a decision the order was not sealed for a fortnight. This was to give either party the opportunity to appeal or the Court time to intervene. Mr Harvey said that of the 253 applications. 15 were for farm properties and 238 for other properties. The letter to the editor of “The Press” (signed “Scvlpsi") was as follows:—“Sir,—lf you buy a property, weeks must elapse before your case Is heard. Even after a favourable decision, weeks more must elapse before you can get possession—this last, I presume, to see if it is at all possible to have a further hearing on the business. The very fact that both buyer and vendor are In perfect agreement weighs simply nothing. I have been told that it took two hours to hear one case, with 160 more on the file, waiting.”