Elderly Couple Should Enjoy Own Home During Retirement. Says Bench

Wanganui Chronicle, 27 July 1949, Page 4

Elderly Couple Should Enjoy Own Home During Retirement. Says Bench

When a man and his wile have saved over the years to acquire a home, they should be able to enjoy possession of that home uuring their retirement, said Mr S. S. Preston, S.M., after hearing a claim for possession of a house in the Magistrate's Court, Wanganui- yesterday. Plaintiff was a married man aged 65 who is on the verge of retiringand defendant was a married man with a wife and three young children. The magistrate added that it. was much easier for younger people to put up with the difficulties of trying to find accommodation than older people whose health and faculties were failing. Granting plaintiff an order for possession of the house within t three months, the magistrate said lie intended giving some practical effect to the amendments to the law introduced by ihe Tenancy Act, 1948.

The new Act provided that a landlord who had owned a house for five years might apply lor possession ol his own house for his own occupation without first offering the tenant alternative accomodation. The Court was still required to take into account the hardship factor, the magistrate added. In this case plain tiff and his wife had two rooms and a kitchenette which they were at present occupying, but the hardship question was not decided by a mere counting of the number of occupants. Other factors had also to be taken into consideration.