Tenant Succeeds With Claim On Landlord

Chronicle (Levin), 6 July 1949, Page 4

Tenant Succeeds With Claim On Landlord

; . ♦ ' t, • General damages of ' £10, - the amount claimed, ahd speciaL dam1 xges of £1 10s-wers' awarded Charles lennings, a. Foxton tenant, against nis landlord, Charles Glover, by.Mr. A. A." McLachlan, S.M., in the , Magistrate's. Coui't, 'Levin. Costs amounting to* £6 TOs were also allowed. " . • For the 'tenant, Mr. N. M. Thom-* son explained that Jennings . had 30-me to Foxton .from Taranaki and pad. nbtained^ work.-, with-, the; same company which employed Glover. An arrangement had been made be^ween them that ' GloVer should let nis- bach at Foxton Beach to Jennings for 36s . weekly, the ,rent. to commence", yhen the bach-was.bc- N eu'pied'by Jennings an'd fiis wife. A w'eek ' - later plaintiff 's f urnitur e had arrived and was put into the nouse with the knowledge and consent of Glover.' / Four days later Glover had in-r . formed Jennings that he could not' have the property, continued Mr. fhomson. The result was that Jennings, his wife and their three Children had to spend the next 'ortnight with his sister-in-law and family of five, all ten living in a * smal State house under difflcult ionditions. That -night a" message -iad been sent to Glover asking him 'O open up the bach to enable them jq get their blankets, but this rejuest had beeri "refused. Counsel submitted that there was . . fiearly 'an agreement to grant a :enancy, and that. Glover had proken this agreement without just .au'se. •" - '• • ' " Evidence to this effect was given by Jennings, at the conciusion of which the magistrate asked Mr. J. Todd, who appeared - - for Giover, vhether the agreement' to grant She "tenancy was- admitted. Mr. Todd' stated that his client's case was that the tenancy agreement .iad heen induced by representa:ion by Jennings, that his occupation of the bach wpuld be1 pure y :emporary and that he had another house to go to, but in cross3xamination on this point Jennings frankly admitted that he had said he had another house to go to iri about a month's time, and that in point of fact he was now actually living in this house. On the ques/ion of the plaintiff's statement that Glover had refused fco release the blankets, G'over stated that plaintiff 's son, Alan, had - brought him a note and he had Immediately opened up the bach and let- the boy take away whatever he- had wanted. • At this stage the son, Alan, was •balle'd ' ahd'o expressely - denied Glover's- statement/ He -said -that when -'he han'ded' the note to him G'over had ^merelyanswered in-.the legative. ■ . * ' In*giving .judgment for Jennings, Mr. McLachlan held that there had been no misrepresentation whatsoever on the part of Jennings, that iheres had:be,en a-.clear, agreement m Glover's part to grant a tenancy and that Glover .had broken the agreement witliout just Cause. He said he befieved. the boy's evidence and ,that Glover ; 'biad wrongfully retained possess^qp of, plaiiitiff's blankets. Judgment wou]d, there - fore, i?e as "stated^ above for the full amou'pt qf general damages claimed, .together ' with the cost of qarting the furniture'to and from Foxton, 30s, and costs.