OPEN WARFARE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18750, 2 January 1923, Page 7

OPEN WARFARE

LANDLORDS AND TENANTS. A REMARKABLE SITUATION. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, December 29. The Glasgow correspondent of The Times reports that a chaotic situation exists on tho Clyde, where there is open warfare between the landlords and the tenants. The courts are powerless to intervene. Twenty thousand householders in Glasgow, and ten's o? thousands in Paisley, Dumbarton, Clydebank, Renfrew, and other places in the West of Scotland have been deliberately withholding their rents for months, and as the landlords arc refusing to pay their rates the local machinery has been thrown out of gear. Tho trouble began in 1920, when a majority of the factors failed to servo formal notices to quit on the tenants before raising their rents to the limit allowed by the Rent Restriction Act. As a result of this omission the House of Lords decided that all ouch increases were illegal, and the upshot was that the tenants were entitled to sit rent free for periods from nine to twelve months. Over 80 per cent, of the houses in Glasgow are affected, involving a total' of £3,000,000. If the decision of the House of Lords stands the landlords will lose £1,250,000. The landlords believe that Parliament will eventually quash the decision of the House of Lords, which frustrates the intention of the Legislature, but the tenants are prepared to fight tooth and nail any action which favours the landlords. Mr Ramsay Macdonald lias already committed Labour to such a course. It was owing, to the attitude of Labour on this question that its candidates were successful at the elections. The situation is more difficult as the House of Lords is the only barrier to tho eviction of thousands of people, and it is admitted that the quashing of its decision will not solve the problem. —The Times.