HOUSES AND TENANTS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 70, 24 March 1931, Page 8

HOUSES AND TENANTS

(To the Editor.)

Sir/—On Saturday you published, over the signature "Pay Less," a. proteat against the high rente now prevailing in Wellington. Your correspondent was right. Rents are high, much too high. To-night, we hear the'landlord'si side of the case in a letter signed by "One of the Hard-Hit Landlords." But, Sir, surely that particular landlord was either overstating his case or was extremely unfortunate. To be "bilked" of £50 and have his house despoiled to the extent of globes taken and paper torn off the ■walls i» surely not a common occurrence. I should imagine it i« about 1000 to 1 against the Average landlord suffering such treatment. ~,. However, ws will assume for the nonce that your correspondent has a just cause for complaint when he says he has reduced rents "almost to vanishing point ... 30s per week." Where, then, can a balance be struck? On one hand we have the average tenant railing against high rents, and on the other, the average landlord complaining of defaulting tenants and th« higH Rites of interest, etc* etc.,

Tlie only' logical remedy, to myvway of thinking, is for every person working under an award (in Wellington) governed by the Arbitration Court to be granted 5s or 7s Od per week above the award rate for the ■'other three centres, Auckland, Christchur'ch, and Dunedin. If property in Wellington is so much dearer than in the three cities named, then the workers in Wellington should receive, pro rata, that much more per week in wages to enable him to pay the extra in rent.—l am, etc., 'J. M. BROWN. 23rd March. '-.',..- ---, Another correspondent ("Good Paying Tenant") considers it, is time that "a word-is said for the good tenant." The writer says: "The good tenant is all right when he is keeping the garden in tiptop order, paying the-'-.-'rents regularly, ..and doing odd jobs of improvement, but he is generally worried by the landlord, who is diffident about doing any necessary repairs, and who frequently takes .advantage of the improved condition of the property either to sell or raise the rent. Some landlords should learn to appreciate a good tenant when they have one."