State Does Something For The Landlord

Chronicle (Levin), 2 December 1948, Page 9

State Does Something For The Landlord

.. . ■- m 1 j. ; / . WELLINGTON, Dec. 1. In the House of Bepresentatives, Mri McLaganj hio'ving the aeeond reading ,of the Tenaney Bill, said tlie Government still found i£ neeessary to have ,'BOine^cohtrols, but eonditions governing jioiising had fortunately eased enabling home relaxations to be made. The Governineht "would like to be able to completely ^remove the restrictions whieh prevented an owner obtaining posses1 sion . of his own premises, but it was impractical to do so at present witliout pxposing a large number of tenants to severe hardships. The Government Would, however, introduce further subBtantial relaxlitions of controls over tenancies as soon as eonditions warrant,'ed. ■ Tliis Bill was hot the last word on ■ihe; subject. , 'Referring to last year's legislation "prpviding for the compulsory lctting of •unoccupied dwellings, the Minister said p'lily, 107 notices had been served on \owners requiring thein to let their dwellings. but .officers of his department Kad repolted that from .their observa* (tions 'it'"appeared a large numbex of 'U.noccnpied houses had been sold or let ,'as -the result of last year 's Act. j'Yjr: ,Jv-T. Watts (St. Albans) said the -cbdification of the tenaney law as pro- ■ yided for in this Bill, was overdue, but :maiiy anomalies were left untouehed and there was not now adequate time to dis.euss the changes which the Bill dids effiect. From the laudable ob'ject of :proteeting a good tenant against a bad landlord, present statiites too often pro.tested a bad tenant against a goou •landlord. Mr. Watts said the Bill was a genuine attempt to deal with the 'siiuatioit /• and . it did remove some anpiPP-lies.- Some of the improvements npw- iniade had been suggested years ago by. the .Gppositipn. Steps to prevent i'tli'e' payni'ent of 1 ' key money ' ' for the .possession of premises, relaxation in fa'vour jf age bpnefieiaries seeking possession fif their own homes, power for .eihpl'qyer to reeover possession of a fh'o.use. from an einployee who had left "Ms ertiploy, were things long advocated ; by the .- Opposition. ' .Another desirable amendment was to prevent tenants subletting premises they occupied as distinct from sublets of rooms or portion of their tenaney. i^pnie. tenants had vacated premises, but had sublet them .in a manner which 'meant that the owner who had waited for years for .repossession, was powerless to do anytliing. ■ The Bill was given a second reading.