Landlords kept busy

Press, 25 February 1983, Page 9

Landlords kept busy

The rent freeze, the revival of the Tenants’ Protection Association, and the tax measures contained in the Budget made 1982 a difficult year for Christchurch's landlords. The president of the Christchurch Landlords’ Association, Mr A. J. Roberts, made the comment at the association’s annual meeting and predicted another busy year. Lobbying by the Tenants' Protection Association for the reform of tenancy law would have to be opposed “vigorously” by the association, he said. There was already too much red tape surrounding the relationship between landlord and tenant. Mr Roberts told the meeting that the association could not expect the same sym-

pathy from the present Minister of Housing, Mr Friedlander, as it had had from his predecessor, Mr Derek Quigley. Although Mr Friedlander was “a substantial landlord himself” he did not understand the problems confronting landlords in the South Island, he said. Mr Friedlander has shown a guarded interest in the recommendations for reform proposed by the chairman of the Tenants’ Protection Association and a senior lecturer in law at the University of Canterbury, Mr Andrew Alston. Among the changes .Mr Alston has suggested is that bond money be held by an independent authority, a move that 80 per cent of Landlords’ Association members “strongly oppose." '