Interesting Judgment In Possession Case

Chronicle (Levin), 7 October 1949, Page 5

Interesting Judgment In Possession Case

TAURANGA, Oct. 7. An order for possession, to take, effeet in two months, was granted plaintiffs by Mr. Walton, S.M., in the Tauranga Magistrate's Court, when Amelia Rose Harris and Frederick John Harris sought possession of a house owned by them and situated in Te Ngaio Road, Mt. Maunganui, at present occupied bj Alice Thelma Cockerton as tenant. Counsel for plaintiffs, Mr. J. G Hare, stated that his clients werethe owners of the house over five years and would be entitled for an order for possession if it could be proved that their hardship would be greater than the tenant i|, ,anK ; order was not granted. He clauhbd that no onus was on the plaintiffs ; to find alternative accommodation ; for the tenant. The magistrate intimated that he would follow the decision given recently by the Chief Justice at Gisborne, where an order for possession was made. On that occasion, stated Mr! Walton, Sir Humphrey O'Leary had ruled that he was not bound to decide the issue on tha grounds of the relative hardship of the parties when the landlord had been the owner of the property continuously for the five preceding years, or when the owner had been in receipt of a pension for the two preceding years.