House Re-let by Owner

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 65, 18 March 1937, Page 6

House Re-let by Owner

Prosecution Under Fair Rents Act POSSESSION OBTAINED FOR OWN USE. Per Press Association WELLINGTON, Last Night. A prosecution under the Fair Kents Act, 1936, was made in the Magistrate’s Court to-day against Leon W. Wilkens, owner of a dwelling-house at Arawa road, Wellington. The charge was that, having obtained possession by representing that he required the house for his own occupation, he re-let it within six months without having obtained an authorising order from a Magistrate. Defendant, who pleaded guilty through ignorance of the law, was fined £lO. Ihe Magistrate said defendant had obtained possession by a false representation. It was clear that he had no intention of going into the house. The case was, therefore, a grave one under the Act, which was designed to protect persons in occupation of houses. There was a specific provision with respect to the obtaining of orders by false pretences. If possession was obtained on one of the grounds mentioned in Section 13, and the ground was false, or if the house was re-let within six months after the landlord had obtained possession, he was liable to a fine of £SO. The case was not merely a technical breach, but one where the statement was made fraudulently.