LEASES COMMISSION
FURTHER EVIDENCE
POINTS TO'BE CONSIDERED
■ _ The Leaseholds Commission concluded V* i Its Wellington session yesterday. It ■ ■mill resume iir."Auckland • next week. Tho commission consists of Mr. Justice ■ Hosking'(Chairman),.Mr. C. F. Thomj, \ as, and Mr. W. : Milne. Mr. J. O'Shea ■ .-appeared for the Wellington City Corporation, and Messrs./A. :W. Blair and > L. 0. H. Tripp for the Leaseholders' . Association.• ij.ii The Chairman said, that as tho com- '■ ■ mission was to .visit Dunedin and Auckland he was seridmg.ia letter to muni•iicipal authorities';,'in;; thoso . cities mcn- . the atopic's--'evidence was to bo heard on. The commission, the com-; ;munication said, had prison out of tho ; discontent of Wellington City leaseholders, but its scope extended to all municipal, leases and Harbour Board leases. This form "of lease in Welling- .. ton was for a term of fourteen years, , • : with tho right of perpetual renewal for ..fourteen years periods at;the tenant's option, with a reassessment of rental every period.' If the tenant- elccted -. ■ not to renew; tho; building went to the . -corporation.. It .. was objected that a fourteen years Mease was too short, and ••it . was suggested that- remedy lay in twenty-ooe years' or twenty-five years' leases.., It was also suggested " that in the event of a tenant not re- • newing the lease of the land he should receive compensation for the building ■:■■■ which passed into the hands of the City. ' . The corporation, suggested jthat the' '. compensation' should .be to'the extent
. of 60 per cent.', and the representatives of the tenants suggested SO per cent. -" to 90 per cent. A percentage compensation was proposed so that the cor- -. -poration would not have obsolete or valueless buildings foisted on to it. Tho idea was that in .the event of liaving to pay compensation on a build- ; ing the corporation should have in year in which t<j find the money, and should pay 5 per cent, interest in the meantime. As to tho tribunal for fixing . rents, the corporation objected to a lay tribunal, and suggested a Judge, where. £2000 was involved, and a. Magistrate where the amount was less. The tenants strongly desired business men on .the tribunal, and objected to law-- : yers. Then there was the middle course --." suggested by the.Chairman of the commission. In Dunedin there was an auc■v tion clause respecting the renewals, but a Wellington objection to that was i that an outside trader might outbid a tenant to get the goodwill of the business. An argument for an improved form of lease.was that the City itself r ". ".could benefit, and a better class of ~ buildings would be erected. , ' William M. Hannay, formerly con- •, liected with tho Wellington and Manawatu Railway. Company, and latterly interested in matters of land valuation, was called as a. witnoss.: He expressed the opinion that a fourteen years' lease was too . short. He favoured either a flat lease of fifty years ( or a lease of about seventy-fivo years, and that the terms of renewal should either .Ibe a fixed amount or a/percentage. 'Then a tenant would know exactly what iie had to face. The fifty years' lease would not bo suitable regarding the corporation leases, perhaps, because it might allow delapidated buildings to .be ;--foisted'on to the City, but it would suit Harbour Board leases. Tho seventy-five years' lease would just about cover the term of the life of a really good building. The 1 Chairman remarked that a ' 25 per cent, increase in rent had been suggested, for. renewal, periods.' ; . Mr.- Hannay' said that the corporation should bo cautious not to fix the ' "- percentage too high, because that would only lessen the value of the ; lease in the eyes of prudent men. Mr. Milne: Do 1 you think 25 per . cent, too high? I Mr. Hannay: Yes. ... Mr. Milne: Will you fix a percentage!' . Mr. Haunay: I should say 15 per ' cent. " i Mr: Milne: Can you'tell us whether the lessees hero who-liave sublet have inado pftlfits on thenr Subletting. Mr. Hannay: No.' I should say it is " the contrary. ' ] Mr. Hannay said ,he had read the newspaper reports of : Mr. Ferguson's evidence and largely agreed with him. In reply to a question by Mr. Thomas , he said_that a freeholder who now buys -, in Wellington is riot getting yery much . return for his capital. In the course of further discussion, the Chairman said he thought the City of Wellington -would be more likely to ' encourage good buildings if it had not • the system of taxation on unimproved ' values. . ... Mr. O'Shea: This Unimproved,value riot the thing it is cracked up to be. A. de B. Brandon, in the course of i evidence,-said, he" had divested himself of a corporation lease which fell to him • from his father. - . Charles said that in evidence-at-leasing arbitrations he had always acted on the principles ■;;i mentioned by Mr. W. Ferguson at • Thursday's sitting of-the commission.
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Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2982, 20 January 1917, Page 8
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804LEASES COMMISSION Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2982, 20 January 1917, Page 8
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