EXTENDING THE RENT LAW

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 77, 27 September 1941, Page 8

EXTENDING THE RENT LAW

Statements made when the Fair Rents Act was extended for a year suggest that the Government intends to widen the operation of rent restriction legislation by applying it to shops and making amendments in its application to rooms or apartments. At present the Fair Rents Act applies to subdivided dwellings, and regulations may, if the Government desires, be made to govern lodgings. What alteration may be in view has not been indicated, but it should be pointed out that, unless the changes are merely formal, the last days of the session are not the time for their introduction. There are complaints frequently of excessive room rents, and if the legislation now in operation does notj correct this, there may be arguments] for amendment, but the problem is not a simple one. Landlords and landladies have pointed out there are faults also on the side of some tenants. If the law is made unduly restrictive, so as to make landlords the victims of tenants who abuse protection, there will be a reaction creating difficulties for all tenants, eood as well as bad. That has been seen already in the application of rontrol to house rents. People who do not wish to be worried with legal rlifficulties have gone out of the house-letting business, and private \ bouses for rent are scarcer than ever. Radical changes in the present law should be made only after there has been full investigation by a Committee. There is little time for this. With regard to shop rents, a Committee of the House of Representatives in 1939 considered two' petitions—one for control and one against. It had no recommendation to make. The same Committee also eliminated shop-rent control provisions from the Fair Rents Amendment" Bill. It stated that if and when the necessity for control arose it could be applied under War Emergency Regulations. It was stated at the time, however, that the evidence had not proved to the Committee the need for control. In face' of these facts it would be quite j wrong to reintroduce the subject at this late stage, of the session without opportunity for full further investigation by a Committee.