N.S.W. RENTS MAY SOAR

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30744, 7 May 1965, Page 13

N.S.W. RENTS MAY SOAR

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright/ SYDNEY, May 6. The New South Wales full Supreme Court yesterday ruled invalid an Order-in-Council freezing rent determination values at the 1939 level. The decision which upsets the 1939 valuation basis for fixing controlled rents could affect 160,000 tenants in N.S.W. The Court upheld an appeal by Peter Clyne, an investor, of Catalpa Crescent, Turramurra, from a decision of a fair rents board. The Order-in-Council was

published on December 8, 1964. It excluded from the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act, 1948-1965, premises affected by an earlier decision of the High Court. Outside the court, Mr Clyne said the logical result of the full Supreme Court's decision would be a dramatic rise in rents. Mr Clyne said that fair rents boards now would be free to fix individual rents according to the circumstances in each case. “This should result in an overall increase in rents which will be somewhere between 100 and 200 per cent; in many cases the rents could treble,” he said. Mr Robin Askin, who is widely expected to become Premier as a result of last Saturday’s state election, said outside the court: “To avoid upheaval and dislocation, we cannot allow any general increase in controlled rents. “Controlled rents will be reviewed at the time of the next elections, scheduled for 1968, in light of conditions then existing.

“If we think a change in rent control is then warranted we will first seek a mandate from the people.”