RURAL HOUSING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 6974, 6 October 1948, Page 7

RURAL HOUSING

APPLICATION FOR LOAN COMPREHENSIVE REPORT BY MR M. P. GOLDSBRO’ The following report on the Rural Housing Act of 1939, was prepared and submitted to the Otorohanga County Council on Monday by the clerk, Mr M. P. Goldsbro’:— The purpose of this Act is to enable County Councils to make advances to farmers for the erection of dwellings either for themselves or their workers, and for such purpose to raise loans to provide the necessary finance. Advances to Farmers: Section 3 provides that a County Council may advance money to a.farmer to enable him to provide a dwelling for his own use or that qf any farm worker who is principally employed by him, or for the use of any member of his family who is engaged in farming operations on the farm or to enable the repair of or addition to any existing dwellings to be undertaken. The dwelling must be situate on a farm owned or leased by the farmer, and before an advance is granted there must be a written application by the farmer and a resolution of the Council. The application must be in the form prescribed by regulation, and should contain a description of the land and be accompanied by plans and specifications of the dwelling or repairs.

The Council must obtain a valuation from the Valuer-General, and no advance in excess thereof can be granted. It is further provided that when making the valuation, the Val-uer-General is to report as to the necessity for the dwelling, and the ability of the farmer to meet the charges in connection therewith. The advance may at the Council’s discretion, be made on progress payments based on its engineer’s certificate, and the loan is to be made repayable by periodical instalments of principal and interest calculated according to a prescribed table.

Notice to Mortgagee etc.: Section 4 provides that before making any advance the Council shall give notice to ev # ery registered mortgagee of the land, and if it is leasehold land, to the lessor, and that no advance shall be made if any such lessor or mortgagee objects thereto within 30 days. Section 3 of the Rural Housing Amendment Act, 1940 provides that where any notice under Section 4 of the principal Act is given to the Crown as mortgagee, and the Crown does not object to the making of the advance, the charge created by Section 6 of the principal Act shall have priority over the mortgage to the Crown to the same extent as if the mortgage were not a mortgage to the Crown. Exemption From Duty: Declarations and agreements in connection with advances are exempted from stamp duty, and no fees are payable in connection with the valuation report on the registration by the District Land Registrar of any charge in respect of an advance. Advance Charged on Land Recoverable as a Rate: Section 6 provides that the amount of every advance, plus thereof for supervision etc., shall be a charge upon all the lands comprised in the farm upon which the dwelling is to be erected, and the total amount, or the amount of any instalment thereof, may be recovered as a rate under the Rating Act, provided that no part thereof shall be recoverable under Section 70 of the Act from any mortgagee or lessor to whom notice has been given under Section 4 of the application for an advance. Recovery of Instalments: Any amount recoverable as rates under Section 6 of the principal Act may be recovered from any person from whom rates may be recovered under the Rating Act, 1925. There is, however, the exception that such amount may not be recovered from any mortgagee or lessor to whom notice has been given under the principal Act.

Loans: Provision is made to enable county councils to raise loans by way of special order, while the State Advances Corporation is enabled to make Joans out of the Housing Account. The Council may borrow money at 3% and make advances at 3i%.

Regulations: Power is given to make regulations prescribing forms of notices, documents etc., the method of giving l notice, rates of interest and table repayments, and covenants to be implied in agreements relating to advances. In reply to a question by Cr Walters as to whether the Council would have to appoint a building inspector if the Act was put into operation, the clerk said that the engineer was the certifying officer. Cr Jamieson moved that the matter be left in abeyance but the motion was not seconded.

Cr Wynyard favoured giving the ratepayers the opportunity of availing themselves of the provisions of the Act if they so desired. Cr Grierson sajd that a meeting oT the ratepayers in his Riding at which he was not present, had asked him to oppose the proposal. The chairman favoured the Council accepting responsibility, for it was their duty to do so. They often heard that the Government was taking away the powers of county councils, so that they should, wherever possible accept all responsibility for necessary work.

It was decided to make application for a loan of £lO,OOO for rural housing purposes. Cr Grierson raised his voice in opposition to the motion but he did not ask that his vote be recorded against it. Experience of Waipa County

In reply to a question by a Courier representative, Mr T. Grant (clerk to the Waipa County Council) said that when the Act was put into force in 1939 his Council applied for, and was granted, a Rural Housing Loan of £25,000. Since then, 34 ratepayers had been granted loans and in no case had any ratepayer failed to discharge his full liability under the loan. The Council recently had applied for, and were granted, sanction to raise a further sum of £20,000.