Crown tenants win battle over rent proposal

Press, 21 October 1983, Page 3

Crown tenants win battle over rent proposal

Crown tenants at Arthur’s Pass and Bealey Spur have won their battle against a Lands and Survey Department proposal to more than treble their rents.

A committee set up by the Land Settlement Board to review the proposed increases, has reduced them an average of about $l3O a year. The rates had been calculated at 4 per cent of the unimproved value of the section as decided by the Valuation Department at the end of 1982.

However, the committee ruled that the department’s valuations be reduced 10 per cent at Arthur’s Pass and 15 per cent at Bealey Spur and that the rents be struck at 3 per cent.

Leaseholders at Arthur’s Pass who would have had to pay an average of $4OO a year rent, will now pay about $270, while at Bealey Spur they will pay an average of $230 a year instead of the $360 average that was first set. They will still face increases, however, because the rents had not been revised since 1974 and were well below market value. They ranged from $B2 to

$lB7 a year at Arthur’s Pass and from $49 to $B2 at Bealey Spur. The review hearing was arranged at the request of the Commissioner of Crown Lands in Christchurch, Mr L. M. Kenworthy, after objections were received from most of the 116 leaseholders in the two villages. Factors influencing the committee’s decision were the high rainfall at both locations and the lack of amenities.