ONE'S OWN LANDLORD

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11805, 16 September 1916, Page 8

ONE'S OWN LANDLORD

IS IT WCRT.I WHLE ? SOME ESS'.DVANTAGES. ('"Wrilatn for the " Star.") lira;;i Im's t'iero a reaai with soul so dead, v.-ho to h'm e|| has noi. oft. said, . c. -]■>:'■■■',ally when jrazi'ta a,t a pile of rent rcci 11 >1 s "One of {'iese d iv:- I will !<uv my iitni in u--o mid lii'e rent tree!" K'-l'.ab.'o ■•■-ia'.i-tifN, are not available /i;.v;ir/ iiie total ef tlie (eiiants in the Dominion await in,'r tlie dea.th of a rich and hj: nevolent uncle, or of those who place their main hopes on " Tatts," so tiiar- a »;. oc|iy sum of money will be, their:; with which to buy a dwellinghouse, but this total of livers, in hopecannot, he small. • 'ihe prevalence of this happy expectancy need cause no surprise. It is in Irnman nature to begrudge handing over hum-earned money to a landloi'-d, who apparently so little deserves it, and wli.it a diii'orence it would make to a family exchequer if the LI note tor rent could be retained. Moreover) ilm walking man is continually told *>. va- certain class of politician, that rent is another word for robbery, and that ikii'oas would never, never be naves, and all economic ills would be removed, if each man owned his own house. Again, how alluring are the announcements of those who have houses to sell. How badly one's rented " house " appears in comparison with a description of these palatial " palae:s." • 1-i.k, as Gilbert reminded us, "Tiling:; are not nlwayß as thfy seem; Skiaiartl milk some nines niat-.querjmea as cream." It is, of course, a fallacy to suppose that the 1111111 wno buys his own house has the use of it for nothing, and the present writer, who has had experience ol living in a house ho owned, and also ot invoking in one he tenanted, is doubtful under which system he was better off. ■ For purposes of comparison let lis deal with a lire or six-rcomcd house, in a congenial neighbourhood, fairly liandy to town and possessing necessary conveniences. <<arden, proper water and sewerage facilities, and most of the comforts ot -ivilisation. Let tho cost to purchase say, £GSQ, or a rental, if let, of £1 weekly, ileuses can be bought for. less, but can also be rented for lees. The above ligures, however may be admitted to be a fair average in Christchurch residential districts. AV Ell ARTi BALANCE-SHEET. An ann'aal balance-sheet of a tenant of such a house Would show £ 2- paid away as rent, and nothing to show for it. except that the house had been his homo tor the twelve months. Apart from paying the reqt, he had no responsibilities. 4 * The balance-sheet of the owner-occu-pier of such a house would probably be made up K- an accountant something after the fallowing manner:—

The item for depreciation would be nt. ihe rate of 2 pc cut on the value of the bouse., say,' £3OO, and would include all outgoings for repairs and improvements. Many builders would declare that th : s allowance is absurdly low. as a bouse, if proppt-Jv looked after should be repainted every throe years, else the rainwa+er ppr-M,rales the joints and dry rot sets in. Even with this repainting precnutmn, "tho fmuso cannot be expected to last more than th'rtv to forty v-mrs. Incidentally. i! the house was being bought on the instalment plan, the otitgoings of flr owner-nr'onnier weald not bo lessened, but nrght be more. It will hj" seen, rum who lives in his own house m-av pay more for it annual I}' 1 }' than if he, merely rented it. He has. however, certain advantages. No "grasping'' landlord can rai«o the rent nor turn him out at short notice. Every "improvement" made to the p~operty ' will get the benefit of, and apa- + from the material side a man's self re-prct slmuVl be increased by liaing h ; s own landlord. But against these advantages are the facts-that if circumstances compel a change of scene it is more d'fiicult to sell the house at the owner's estimation of the Valu° than it is for a tenant to give- a week'snotice to tho. landlcH. Then as th>'nsuranae companies will not give cover fo;* the fu'l vahie of a hou c e. thero is alwav* +he risk of ln=s by fire. The om»-hou'c jwner '.emal'y has to pav room for a"d than do"? the ln" n "> propertv-c\vn«r, who c»f» pVo more business annua'lv with tV n'uinher. painter or etc Pi-n-vt-'v > values may increase tb" nmfi's of a bo-.'i ,i! ' , -niv" , r"' but n" 1 "-'' r Vi -"-i < il/.f..-rovnte, .and t ,,rt last, state of tlm house-owner may bo worse than the frrsfc. In conclusion, it is not the purpose of this article to suggest that landlords lose ' money by letting*- their houses; but tho return from !io>;ise propertv is not so great as non-pro-perty-owners imagine, except in circumstances giving unscrupulous landlords the upper hand, suc-h as a scarcity *of available houses to let. But this is usually temporary, and rents right themselves. Instances can always ho' found of tenants being victimised, b'r.t it must not be forgotten that there Y-d tenants as wejl as grasping landlords. Jhifc the question at the. beading of this article is: Is it worth while to be one's own landlord? and tho answer seems to be: "Not if the other fellow will let you rent a house J reasonably." j

£ 's. d. Interest on capital, 6 per cent . . . . 39 0 0 Rites, etc. r ,50 0 Fire insurnnce . . . 1 10 0 Depreciation and repairs . 10 0 0 Total . . .£55 10 0