Socks ‘stuffing for windows’

Press, 26 September 1989, Page 10

Socks ‘stuffing for windows’

PA Wellington Window frames on a Ministry of Defence house at Waiouru were so warped that socks had to be stuffed in the gaps, a Rent Tribunal was told in Wanganui yesterday.

Major Paul Robinson, the occupant, said it was also so cold that two heaters had to be kept on continuously for about six months of the year. Major Robinson is questioning the formula used by the Ministry to . lift rentals on Defence houses in two stages to market rates. The first increase is on October 20. The case before Graham Rossiter is a test for all Defence rentals.

Major Robinson is also questioning the Ministry’s right to increase the rent in October when his tenancy agreement only allows for a yearly review in April.

He said he had not wanted the Waiouru posting and was not offered a choice of house when he was moved from Christchurch years ago. Initially he paid $38.29 a fortnight for a threebedroomed house in Weir Terrace within the military camp and he- now pays $47.12. Although he

gave no figure, he said the new rate would be 150 per cent higher. He said his house, built, in 1959, was on concrete piles and was so cold that he generally had two chip and two electrical heaters going. The window frames were warped with gaps of more than Icm into which the family stuffed socks. The wallpaper was ripped, paint chipped, and he had to supply his own floor coverings and curtains.

The house was within 20m of State highway 1 and within hearing distance of heavy traffic. Helicopters and jets flew low over the area and gunfire was loud enough for his children to differentiate their type. Major Robinson said Defence paid $839 for rates for the housing area or $1.36 a house. There were no negotiations over the proposed rent increase and his house was not inspected internally. He said Waiouru was

the most remote of all the military camps and families were forced to shop in centres like Palmerston North or Wanganui. He had been to five camps in his career and Waiouru was the most difficult to live in.

Major Robinson said Defence used the Inland Revenue Department formula for assessing fringe benefit tax as the basis for calculating the new rents, and this was unfair. There were 20 to 30 privately-owned houses in the Waiouru area, 614 families living in Defence houses. Six to seven soldiers lived in one house which was not good for a family, he said.' The Chief-of-Staff at the Waiouru Camp, Lieutenant-Colonel Clive Sinclair, said soldiers posted to the area were offered a house but were given no choice of house or locality. The hearing is continuing.