Landlords advised to neglect repairs

Press, 23 November 1983, Page 8

Landlords advised to neglect repairs

Landlords have been asked by the Property Investors Federation not to maintain or make any internal repairs to their flats until rent controls are lifted. The decision was one of several made at a meeting in Wellington this week to discuss the restraints that will be imposed by the Government when the freeze is removed. Effectively, most rent increases will be restricted to 3 per cent, with a 12-month “pause” between rises. The federation’s South Island vice-president and the president of the Christchurch Landlords’ Association, Mr Alan Roberts, said that members would also be advised that it might be cheaper to leave those properties on artificially low

rentals vacant instead of reletting them. “By the time you add up the cost of wear and tear, maintenance, and taxation, it is just as well to leave them empty,” he said.

He also said that the federation was having a “guarantee agreement” drawn up. Prospective tenants would have to find a guarantor to secure the landlord against loss for damage or rent default.

Mr Roberts said that the provision would hit the lower socio-economic groups hardest and that they would have great difficulty in finding accommodation under the terms proposed. However, he said that the federation’s attitude was that if landlords were going to be saddled with the freeze, they might as well ensure that they had the best tenants possible.

Another recommendation was that landlords contract out of their obligations under the Property Act to do basic repairs by putting the responsibility on to the tenant in the lease agreement. This would apply to new tenancies but not to existing ones. The federation’s meeting was addressed by the Minister of Housing, Mr Friedlander, who got a stormy response from the 70 to 80 delegates who attended it.

Mr Roberts said that most of the questions centred on the post-freeze regulations and anomalies in them. Mr Friedlander had promised to look into some of the points raised

but had offered little hope that any substantial changes would be made. “We tried to get it across to the Minister that the Government is heading for an almighty rental property shortage,” Mr Roberts said. “We made it plain that a lot will be quitting the business but he did not seem very interested.” The federation believes that the freeze was acting to force rents up because new properties were being let at very high rentals to accommodate it and because demand exceeded supply. It has asked the Housing Corporation to prepare a report on the matter for presentation to the Government.

When the post-freeze restraints were first announced, Mr Roberts threatened a campaign of civil disobedience and a day of mass evictions but the action decided upon at the meeting is entirely within the law. Mr Roberts said yesterday that he would have liked to have taken a harder line but that he was “only one member of the federation.” He also said that he doubted Yesterday’s announcements would be “the end of things.”

Landlords have been advised that there are “grey areas” in the rent freeze regulations which might be tested in court. They have also been told that the federation has prepared a legal opinion which might be used as a defence should they be prosecuted.