UNECONOMIC RENTS

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26857, 9 October 1952, Page 11

UNECONOMIC RENTS

HOUSES ABANDONED IN BRITAIN SURRENDER TO LOCAL BODIES [From the London Correspondent of The Press”] LONDON, September 12. Landlords in England and Scotland who are losing money on rented houses have devised a method of abandoning their properties without breaking the law. They are forming limited companies which buy the houses for a nominal figure and then go into liquidation. Local Councils are then forced to take over the houses. Many owners are faced with repairs and renovations that would cost hundreds of pounds, and because the low pegged rents provide insufficient mcome for essential repairs, they are abandoning their houses. In some cases properties are disposed of. to men of straw” for a few shillings, inese purchasers, usually tramps, are paid a few pounds to accept the title deeds of the houses. In Scotland, property owners are ■5? I° rrn ing. small limited companies with £lOO capital, and then transfer their uneconomic houses to the companies. The companies do not bother to collect rents, pay no rates to local authorities, and eventually go bankrupt. The houses are then taken over b3 ni Oca * P ousin S authorities. The City Corporation in Glasgow hag taken over hundreds of houses in previous years to provide shelter for people who cannot find good domes. In many cases, people have sacrified substantial mortgages on the properties to relieve themselves of the burden of repairs and taxation. The national executive of the Federation of Property Owners estimates that there are 8,000,000 rent-restricted houses in Britain. The average weekly rent in the provinces is 6s, and in London it is 9s. The federation, which is pressing for a 50 per cent, increase in the net rents, says that any increases in rent will be used to repair houses. A petition • will be presented to Parliament at its next session.