CITY LEASES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2980, 18 January 1917, Page 4

CITY LEASES

THE ROYAL COMMISSION

YESTERDAY'S SITTING

The Leaseholds Commission continued its session in Wellington yesterday. The Commission consists of Mr. Justice iiosking (chairman), Mr. 0. F--Thomas, and Mr. J. W. Miluo. Mr. .1* O'Shea, (City Solicitor) represented thoi Wellington City Corporation, andMessrs. A. Blair and L. 0. H. TrinpA appeared for the Leaseholders' Asso-* ciation.

M. ¥. Luckio, a member . ofi the Leaseholds Committeo of tho Wel-j lington City Council, said the commit-) tee did not consider it was getting thoi best of rentals under existing condi-j tions. Tho shortness of tho term of] leaso was a defect, and tho council • desired legislation to extend tho term-,' Regarding tho tribunal, he favoured aj Judgo or a Magistrate. On the ques- 1 tjon of compensation, he Baid the couii-j oil had to tako into account the fact;' that it had no say in the kind of! building to bo erected, and might findj itself at tho expiration of the leasa! with an unsuitable building on itsj hands.

His Honour said it seemed to himi that tho lessees desired to throw all] risks on tho landlord. There should bol a division of risk. i

To Mr. Thomas: The LeaseholdsJ Committee had not adopted Mr. Ames's! suggestion for definite increases in iba, rentals at given periods. _ Arthur Richmond Atkinson, chairs man or tho. Corporation's Leaseholds' Committee, said the greatest dissatis-. faction was felt with the tribunal. A' reason why there had not been ■dissatisfaction in Dunecfin as in Wellington l was that there had not been the sanv*: surprising rise in values. did not give reasons, so no principle-'; of raining was established. A judicial arbitration would establish a. practical as had been established in common; few.

For the Leaseholders. James B. MaoEwan, managing di-; rector of J. B. MaoEwan and Co., called by the Leaseholders' Aseocia-; tion, said the difference in ideas of. value was dun largely to the different; basis of calculation. Possible satisfac-' tory leases were: (1.) where the owner of the land owned the building, too; (2) a lease for a long term with some: safeguard of the tenant's goodwill, not' necessarily a right of renewah Shorl-j term leases without compensation were*, unsatisfactory. The polioy of the Cor-i Deration should be along the lines of• fair the tenant stability:! and confidence! There was a tendency. l : in Wellington to relinquish leases in. favour of freehold. The most satis-; factory way to conserve the interests' of both sides would be to have a lease* in which the owner of the land was also the owner of the bnildiug. Failing that, a long lejise was desirable. As to the Corporation's proposal to give' sixty per cent, compensation, he thought the compensation (should he ninety per cent., or at least eighty per cent. If there was a low percentage) the rental would accordingly be lowet! than if the percentage was high.

His Honour said it occurred to him that the leaseholders had conjured up imaginary evils to get lower rentals, and had thus befouled' their own nests. It seemed that the lessees wanted a oun-sided bargain.

To Mr. Blair: He thought tho long, leases should run for 99 years. _ Mr, O'Shea: Have you any objection to the rents being fixed by agreement between the parties, and, if they cannot agree, of the matter being referred to a judge of the Supreme Count? Mr. MacEwan: Yes, I have.

An Expert in Values. Gerald Fitzgerald, who had been frequently an umpire in land valuation: disputes, was called. Mr. Blair: What has been the basic prinoiple underlying the difference''between, the Corporation and tho ten-" ants?

Mr. Fitzgerald said tho corporation, had always asked for freehold values, and the tenant had always disputed that. The correct basis was some estimate of what tho land would produce—what rovenua would bo obtained from a building, erected on the land. The' Chairman: The vice of the lease is said to lie in the fact that a lessee may have a high rent forced on him at the risk of losing the building. It is: : said the corporation should pay for im-; provements. Can you suggest means; whereby the interests, of the corpora-i tion would be safeguarded in that case?' Mr. Fitzgerald: Let the corporation:.! in the first place approve tho building; which is to go on the land. i The Chairman: Yes. That would* prevent jerry-building, but at the end of the twenty-one years' term it might be found that the building was quite' unsuitable for the neighbourhood. Mr. Fitzgerald added that the dis- 1 posal of the building should he by auc- : tion. The Chairman thought the auction.., idea would solve one of the difficulties. Mr. Tripp contended it would not. Mr. Thomas said it would only bes useful concerning the rent test. Mr. Tripp: Yes. .On behalf of the Wellington Harbour!, Board, information was tendered by; T. Shatter Weston. Ho gave instances, of long leases being unsatisfactory. He thought that of late tenants of; Wellington city leaseholds had not had mi'cli to coinnlain of. ■ To Mr. O'Shea: He hoard of no com-, plaint before the Leaseholders' AbsocW ation was formed.

Other Bodies' Leases. William Frederick Ward, whose firm of solicitors acted for the Charitable Aid Board and for various Chnrch of England trusts, said the form of loose tho Hospital Board had been granting lately was tho renewable lease. However, many leases originally granted for forty-two years had not yot fallon in.

Mr. O'Shea: Tlicso renewable leases are similar to tho Wellington City Council leases'. <• Mr. Ward: I believo they arc fairly similar. Frederick John Carter, diocesan treasurer for the Church of England Trusts, said their leases wore for terms of sixty years and forty-two years. Tho Chairman: Do the tenants keep tho buildings in order, or do they got slack towards the end of the term? Mr. Carter': There is generally some trouble towards tho end of the term; The Commission will resume at 10 o'clock this niornius.