TRICKS OF TENANTS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 155, 16 June 1932, Page 8

TRICKS OF TENANTS

CHEATING THE LANDLORD PILFERING LIGHT BULBS A HOUSE THAT DISAPPEARED. Auckland, June 15. The discovery by an Auckland landlord that his tenants had chopped down his wash-house and used it for firewood is said to be bv no means an isolated example of a form of vandalism from which many property owners are suffering at the present time. The pilfering of electric light bulbs and fittings, the removal of lead pipes, curtain rods, w mduw blinds, dooi knobs and gas stoves, and neglect to replace broken window-panes and cupboard doors are some ol the ways m wiucn unscrupulous tenants endeavour to cheat tneir landlords. u liar, tor instance, cun a landlord do when lie finds that his tenant has disappeared with all tfie flowers, shruus .ma lieuge plants in his garden? that liappeneu at a house a month or two ago. file laiidloid, ruefully regarding me snipped Hower beds, angrily upraided tire tenant when be eventually located him. ‘‘Well, all 1 cay say is tho garden was intact when 1 left it,’’ returned the tenant. “It must have been the neighbours.’’ And that was as tar ns the landlord ever got. ELECTRIC LIGHT BULBS. “Tho disappearance of efectric light bulbs is the most frequent cause of annoyance and expense which landlords have to suffer,” said an Auckland land agent. “Cases are sometimes reported to me of houses being absolutely stripped of bulbs. This kind et pilfering is becoming so common that it cannot be long before landlords will be forced to take action to protect themselves from what is becoming a substantial item of expense. A lead has already been taken by the State Advances Department, now one of the largest landlords in the country, and ail houses let by the department to tenants are rented minus electric light bulbs, which have to be purchased by the tenants. Another six months or so will see the great majority of other landlords following suit. After all, it a house is let unfurnished, why should the landlord supply electric light bulbs ? It is purely a custom, and an outworn one at that.” One of the most extraordinary examples of pilfering is the sawing-off of lead waste pipes and the removal of wash-house coppers. Lead is valuable at the present time and when melted down the pipes have a good market value. Tenants have been known to strip the bathroom of every piece of lead piping it contained, while washhouse coppers, also containing valuable metals, have been removed from houses by motor-lorry.

Cheating the landlord of his rent has developed in some quarters into a highly systematised practice, which property-owners are almost powerless to overcome. “1 suppose 1 nave had more trouble with tenants than any other landlord in Auckland,” said a city property-owner. “For that reason 1 can tell you the most successful way of beating your landlord out of his rent. It is a method from which 1 have suffered oil more than one occasion, •DIAMOND” RINGS AND A CAR. “You first of all rent a house and pay a week’s rent in advance. Then you wait about three weeks and pay nothing, lour landlord becomes very worried and comes to find out why you are in arrears, lou say, ‘My dear sir, 1 am dreadfully sorry. 1 forgot all about it. Here is the £3 15/- 1 owo you.’ You hand him the money and he goes away satisfied. Next time you don’t pay the rent tor six weeks. Your landlord will get very excited and want to know why he has not been paid. You say, 'How foolish of me. I have not got the money just now, but 1 will call round and pay you to-morrow.’ “Next day you put on your best suit of clothes, wear a lew imitation rings on your fingers and, if possible, borrow your friend’s car. Go round to the landlord and offer him what you owe and a month’s rent in advance. Talk to him about the cost of motoring and investments on the Stock Exchange and do all you can to win his confidence. Tell him you have been accustomed to pay your rent every three months. Then Jet six months slip by and find another house.” But all the tricks of the trade cannot beat the experience of an Auckland lady who owned a house. The tenant paid his rent regularly for six months, when payments suddenly ceased. The owner, wondering what had happened, decided to call upon her tenant and seek an explanation. When she got there she found the house had disappeared. Thu section was absolutely vacant. She made inquiries and learned that the tenant had sold the house for removal to a builder, who had demolished it and disposed of the timber for firewood. The matter was placed in the hands of the police, but the tenant had disappeared into the void, and not a trace of him has been discovered to this day