CROWDED FLAT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26748, 17 April 1948, Page 5

CROWDED FLAT

TENANT SEEKS RELIEF CASE AT PORT CHALMERS His claim was based on relative hardship, said Mr W. J. Meade, counsel for Melville Albert White, when proceeding in the Port Chalmers Magistrate’s Court yesterday before Mr A. E. Dobbie, S.M., for possession of a four-roomed house in Hall street, Sawyer’s Bay, against George Laurence Erdman and his wife, Agnes Elizabeth Erdman (Mr J. Race). The magistrate made an order in favour of the plaintiff for possession on or before August 16.

Mr Meade told the court that the plaintiff bought the house last July after the vendor had told him that there was only one tenant, who was prepared to move out immediately after the sale had been completed. White was at present living in a flat in Port Chalmers, together with his wife and eight children. As the flat only contained a kitchen and three bedrooms, he wished to move into the house he had bought, and increase the space by building additional rooms. Mrs White had been told by the doctor that owing to the state of her health, she should not climb any staris, and as the fiat included rooms on two stories, the defendant was doubly anxious to move. As soon as the sale was completed, White asked the defendant to move, and told him that his landlord was willing to accept defendant and his wife as tenants for the flat. After three months, during which the offer was repeated, the landlord decided not to accept Erdman. Although he had wished to occupy the flat, he had been unable to do so because his wife had been forbidden by the doctor to climb stairs, and had been forced to stay in bed for about a month last year, said Mr Erdman. He would prefer to live in Port Chalmers, and would accept alternative accommodation provided there were no stairs. After evidence had been given by Agnes Elizabeth Erdman, the magistrate gave his decision in favour of the plaintiff. Traffic Offences William Arthur Wright was fined £2 with costs (10s) for driving without due care and attention, and a similar penalty was imposed on Robert Leonard McCallum for exceeding the speed limit.