No Unoccupied Houses Yet Tenanted Under Act

Chronicle (Levin), 23 January 1948, Page 4

No Unoccupied Houses Yet Tenanted Under Act

There are very few empty houses in Levin' and district, and enquiries from the Horowhenua pounty Council and Levin Borough Council showed that no a'ction has yet been taken to invoke the provisions of the Fair Rents' Amendment Act, which was passed- by Parliament just before the Christmas holidays. The Act gives local authorities power to order , the • letting of Unoccupied houses other than holiday re'sidences. Where investigations show that a house is empty for legitimate reasons it is unlikely that any action will be taken. A clause in the Act says that where any local authority is satisfied that any house within it's district is unoccupied, and has been unoccupied, or .only occasionally occupied, for 28 'days or more, it shall, if deemed necessary, having regard to the need for housing accommodation and other relevant considerations, serve on the owner of the house a notice in writing requiring him to let the hopse for immediafe occupation, either furnished or unfurnished. The owner or any person interested can giv'e notice of appeal against "the local body's action within 14 days of the serving of the notice. If the notice is not cancelled on appeal, and the owner fails or refuses to comply with the notice, the "local authority has to notify the State A'dvances ' Corporation, The house then becomes subject to the Housing Act, 1919, as if it had been acquired on behalf of the Crown and can be let by the State Advances Corporation.