HOUSING POSITION

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 153, 25 March 1938, Page 6

HOUSING POSITION

Still Serious At Napier And Hastings EFFECT OF LEGISLATION Dominion Special Service. Hastings, March 24. Dissatisfaction with legislation passed by the Government with regard to. housing was expressed by land agents in the district toMay. The opinion was expressed. that all branches of the land agents’ business had been adversely affected until at present the possibilities of properties beiq;: obtained either for lease or sale had been practically destroyed. "Since the beginning of January I ean say that we have had less than a dozen houses to let” said one Napier agent. “The recent legislation requiring landlords to find new houses for their tenants before putting them out has made things w'orse, and is making thq shortage of houses even more acute.” This agent said he knew of a number of cases in Napier in whieli owners had been successful in getting tenants out of their houses and now preferred to leave the pladbs empty to facilitate their sale. Each timh this was done it meant that there was one house fewer available in the town. “The whole difficulty facing agents is that there is practically no private building going on in the district at the present time,” he said. “The Government restrictions on the letting of houses discourage people from erecting houses with the intention of letting them, and the increasing cost of building materials and labour is a detriment to the private home builder. I was informed by a local builder that costs had risen 50 per cent, during the past 12 months.” There were a few flats in Napier but not enough for the size of the town, said another agent. A number of people were subdividing their bouses and letting them as flats, but there was a good demand for prop.er flats. That the housing legislation was far too hard on the landlord, was another opinion expressed. 'The position could be relieved by helping the private builder and the landlord. This agent said he was convinced that had private building been allowed to continue unrestricted the shortage of houses would not have been so acute as it was at the .present time. Tlie legislation was harder on the landlord than the tenant whieh was an unfair position. In many cases also the landlord was in a worse position financially than the man living in his house. It was practically impossible to meet a man who would guarantee possession of his house if he sold it. It was usually the worry to get possession of the house he bought. Referring to the Government housing scheme at Napier, the agent said the position might be relieved slightly, but the effect would probably not be felt. Hundreds more homes were wanted than the few that had been built, and had private building been allowed to continue unrestricted the position to-day would have been much easier.