Rural rentals ‘too high’

Press, 31 August 1989, Page 4

Rural rentals ‘too high’

By

PETER LUKE

in Wellington

The Government has conceded that the “market rentals” it charged many rural teachers for their housing last December are too high.

About 600 teachers took protests against their rents to the Tenancy Tribunal.

In three-quarters of the 100-odd cases so far assessed, the tribunal reduced rentals on averge about 30 per cent.

The Minister of Education, Mr Goff, has announced that many teachers will be religible for back-dated rebates of up to 40 per cent of the assessed market rates. “I do not believe that current rentals were adequately assessed,” said Mr Goff. Individual rebates would be at the discretion of the Ministry of Education,"and would vary according to individual circumstances.

Criteria for the rebate will be:

® The teacher must not have already completed a Tenancy Tribunal hearing.

• The teacher must be paying $5O or more market rent. • The teacher must agree to withdraw his or her application to the Tenancy Tribunal.

Mr Goff said that the average rebate was expected to exceed 25 per cent of the assessed market rates; and would not be more than 40 per cent. The rebates, which will be backdated to late last year when the market rents came in, will be reviewed in the context of a revised staffing incentive package next award round. Mr Goff said the rebate policy arose through the pattern of tribunal hear-

ing findings and the costs incurred by all parties in these hearings. Although teachers getting a rebate must agree to withdraw any tribunal application over rent, they will still be free to apply to the tribunal over the maintenance of their rental houses.

The Ministry has about 3000 rental houses, mostly in rural areas.

Mr Goff said he supported the general principle of fair market rents, but that two issues must be resolved.

“The first is the aqdequacy of current rental assessments. The second is the question of replacing low rentals in areas where teacher recruitment is difficult with a more appropriate form of staffing incentives.”