HOUSE-RENTING

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 44, 20 August 1918, Page 8

HOUSE-RENTING

COMPLAINT ABOUT THE BONUS^-

SYSTEM.

"Still a Victim," in a. letter to The Post, complains of the system of "house trafficking" which,, he alleges, has sprung tip in WeUing^oiK^jHe refers to the demand for a-.bonus which, he asserts, ■accompanies offers'to" let a house. The correspondent states;, that one^ advertisement was recently .worded: "To Let, 4-roomed house; £2 bonus demanded." He' concludes: "Whjcdoes the Labour Department: sit quiet -and allow these iniquities to be imposed on reservists and other people? :.. J. ..'Jj', received notice to quit ten days after, my name appeared' in the ballot.'V '•"<■'-' t ' -->

■ The complaint .was referred to the Labour Department;=:and reply is that the Department is powerless to act. Certainly the •. Labour Department is administering, .the', rent legislation, but unless it can'be'-shown that the bonus ia paid to the owner >of "the- house, and is part of the rent, no action- can bo taken. In maiiy cases, it was pointed out, the owner had' nothing to do with the bonus, which, was charged by an agent or,: mor^ofter^;* by :an outgoing tenant. There-Was nothing to prevent that,. and new."legislation woulid.be necessary before the-practica could'be stopped.