Tenants’ association upset

Press, 20 September 1985, Page 4

Tenants’ association upset

The Christchurch Tenants’ Protection Association is upset about opposition from National members of Parliament to the tenancy bill introduced in Parliament yesterday. The association’s Christchurch spokesman, Mr Rod Donald, said yesterday that the contrary view of the legislation from National’s spokesman on housing, Mr Roger McClay, and Mr Tony Friedlander (Nat., New Plymouth) was regrettable. The association supported the legislation in almost all of its aspects, he said. It was ironic that

National members opposed the legislation when it was the result of submissions made to the Property and Equity Law Reform Committee set up by the former Minister of Justice, Mr McLay. The committee had been chaired by the dean of the faculty of law at the University of Otago, Professor R. J. Sutton, and submissions had been received from the Real Estate Institute, landlord and tenant groups, and the Consumers’ Institute. Mr Donald said he believed that the legislation

had the majority support of all these groups. He said that National members of Parliament .had criticised the legislation for being biased towards tenants. Mr Donald said that his organisation was particularly keen to see the setting up of the tenancy tribunals. He believed they would have their “hiccups” but that they offered a reasonable forum for solving disputes. Landlords would no longer hold bond money, which was another positive move, Mr Donald said.

The 90-day period of notice required of landlords in normal situations, and the 21-day period required of tenants recognised the relative positions of advantage the landlord and tenant had, he said. The one area of concern the association had was privacy, he said. For example, tenants would not be allowed to change the locks of doors without the permission of the landlord. His organisation would make submissions on this matter in the legislation’s first reading in the House, he said.