The Evening Star MONDAY, MARCH 10, 1919.
We hare recently received several communications from writers vliose bona tides aro sooting information as to their rights under the law that was passed, for their special protection. Here aro three instances that are typical of the general trend of the inquiries: Will you, Mr Editor-, inform me whether a landlord cam raise my rout half a crown par week at the present time? Tire only expenditure that he has incurred during the war period is that he had one living room painted and papered and a washer placed' on the tap. Because ho has been asked to put a new lock on the kitchen door, which is absolutely needed, but which request he has not complied with, ho has thought fit to raise my rent. Can tins be legally done?
Are Tenants i Being Exploited? t
I Itavo been a. tenant for three years of a certain hou.se in street, and I have regularly paid my agreed rent of 16s 6d For a house of four rooms. My landlord has now given mo notice that I must pay £1 a week. Can he do so?
I occupied a small tenement on the ocean front, because as I was a sufferer from insomnia I was recommended to try surf-bathing at dusk and in the early hours of tho morning. Finding that I could not sleep in the early part of tho night, I installed tho electric light at my own expense to enable me to road with comfort. A short time afterwards my landlord, without a word of explanation, raised my rent by three shillings a week, and thinking that I had been imposed on I quitted and found other accommodation. Could I have successfully resisted that extra charge? As a nil© we resolutely refrain from answering legal questions, but as this matter is one of extreme public interest wo shall endeavor to put before our inquirers and the public generally tho state of the law bearing on the subject. By the War Legislation Amendment Act of 1916 the Legislature sought to prevent uudae increase© of rent—it will be remembered that tho measure was introduced by the late Mr Hiudmarsh, and then taken up by tho National Government, who recognised its urgency—and wo quote its main provisions as follow; 2. (1) Where the rent of a dwellinghouse to which this part of this Act applies has been sine© the commencement of the present war, or is hereafter during tho continuance of this part of this Act, increased above the standard rent as herein defined, the amount by which the rent payable exceeds the "amount which would have been payable bad the increase not been made shall. notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, be mecovorabl©. Provided that—pi) This part of this Act shall not apply to any rent which accrued due before the passing of this Act; and (b) where the landlord has since the commencement of tho present war incurred, or during the continuance of this part of this Act incurs, expenditure on the improvement or structural alteration of a dwellinghouse (not including expenditure on decorations or repairs), an increase of rent at a rate not exceeding eight pea - centum p - er annum on the amount so expended shall not be deemed to be an increase for the purposes of this part of tills Act. 3. Where the landlord pays tho rates chargeable on the occupier of any dwell-ing-house, an increase of the rent of the dwelling-house shall not be deemed to ba an increase for the purposes of this part of this Act if the amount of the increase does not exceed any increase in the amount for tho time being payable by the landlord in respect of such rates over the corresponding amount paid in respect of tho yearly, half-yearly, or other period which, included tho third ! day of August, nineteen hundred and fourteen. 5. (1) Wherever an increase of rent is by this part of this Act permitted, no such increase shall be due or recoverable until the expiry of twenty-eight days after the landlord has served upon the tenant a notice in writing of his intention to increase the rent, accompanied, (a) -where tho increase of rent is on account of such expenditure as is mentioned m paragraph (b) of sub-section cue of section two hereof, by a statement of the improvements or alterations affected and of their cost; and (b) where the increase of rent is on account of an increase m rates by a statement showing particulars ot the increased amount charged in respect of rates on tho dwelling-house. 6. (a) The expression “standard rent ” means the rent at which the dwelling-house was let on the third day of August, nineteen hundred and fourteen, or whore tho dwelling-house was not let on that date the rent at which it was- last let before that date, or in the case of a dwelling-house which was first let after the third day of August tho rent at which it was first let, or means, at the option of tho tenant, only the lowest rent at which the dwelling-house was let at anv time, between the third day of August, nineteen hundred and fourteen, and the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and fifteen : Provided that if the standard rent as herein defined, computed for a period of one year, is in any case loss than eight per centum of tho capital value of the dwellinghouse the standard rent computed for the same period shall in lieu of the standard rent as so defined be_ deemed to lie an amount equal to eight per centum of such capital value. From tho foregoing extracts from the Act it is quite clear that the rent of a dwelling-house cannot be increased on account of expense incurred by the landlord for ordinary repairs or decorations, such as painting, papering, etc.; and certainly in two of tho cases mentioned by our correspondents the action of the particular landlord was a violation of tho spirit if not of ■ the actual letter of the Act. Moreover, it has come to our knowledge that in several parts of the city whore the city valuer lias thought fit to increase the rating such increase was deliberately attempted to he “passed on” to the tenant, hot with this difference : that the latter was being mulcted in a sum out of all proportion to what tho landlord was called upon to pay- F° T example, in one case the rate had been increased by 3s per annum, and the tenant was coolly asked to pay an additional Is per week ! M e invite the City members of Parliament to remember this circumstance, which can be easily verified, and to designate it in fitting language when they next discuss the Cost of Living problem on the floor of the House. One of the most important provisions of tho above Act is that which makes it absolutely necessary for tho landlord, before he can claim any increase, to give the tenant (as mentioned in section 3, part 1) 28 days’ notice of his intention to increase the rent. No increase can be legally claimed until such notice has been served. If any tenant should receive a notice of this kind, it will cost him nothing to send it to the local Labor office, when he will bo advised as to whether tho claim can be legally sustained. Those who have had tho courage to invoke tho assistance of the Labor Department have been able to successfully resist impositions of the kind we have criticised.
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Evening Star, Issue 16988, 10 March 1919, Page 4
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1,272The Evening Star MONDAY, MARCH 10, 1919. Evening Star, Issue 16988, 10 March 1919, Page 4
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