MONEY FOR NOTHING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 79, Issue 7137, 25 November 1949, Page 4

MONEY FOR NOTHING

HOUSE VALUES AND RENTALS A QUESTION AND ANSWER The official newspaper of the Parliamentary Labour Party, on November 24th asks a very pertinent question. “Mr Holland said it was the National Party’s policy to value houses at their replacement cost. Does that mean that the values of old houses will rise accordingly and allow landlords to increase the rent.?” The Land Sales Committee, sitting as an Assessment Court at Te Awamutu on 18th October heard an appeal, the hearing being reported in these columns on the following day. The applicant set out that the Government valuation officers had written up the value of his buildings—■ erected for periods of from 15 to 25 years—from £5360 in 1940 to £7935 an increase of 48%. Adopting the basis on which assessments are made by the Labour Department to fix rental values the appellant showed that the effect of the new valuation, if sustained, would increase the rental values from £755 to £lOlO per annum—an annual increase of £255.

It was asked by the appellant that neither the valuation nor the rental values be raised. Presumably the Land Sales Committee has been very busy during the last six weeks but for some reason or other its decision has not yet been announced.

Meanwhile, the Government’s valuation officers are doing exactly what the standard suggests somebody else may contemplate doing and the answer to the standards question would appear to be entirely satisfactory to the Te Awamutu appellant except of course the change of Government really does initiate a new policy to enable people who own old buildings to have valuations raised for higher rentals.