RUSH IN LEGAL OFFICES

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 331, 12 January 1937, Page 4

RUSH IN LEGAL OFFICES

MORTGAGE ADJUSTMENT Stratford Public Trust Working Overtime. Stratford legal firms, which reopened to-day, are already experiencing an almost unprecedented rush du e to the necessity of all applications for adjustment under the Mortgagors’ and Lessees’ Rehabilitation Act, 1936, being filed before the 31st of this month, and for the same reason the Stratford Public Trust Office has for the past two months been working at top speed and the staff is at present working overtime under the conditions laid down by the Public Service Act The Public Trustee and most of the lawyers ar e involved in a large number of these negotiations in different capacities for the various clients they represent. Applications Filed. Since the Act cam© into force in October, 62 applications for adjustment have been filed at the Stratford Court and 52 applications, made under the now repealed Final Adjustment Act, which the Commission has not yet dealt with, come automatically under the scope of the new Act. Thus there is so far a total of 104 cases to be dealt with by the sitting of the Commission at Stratford, and it is expected that now that the legal firms have re-opened there will be a great increase on these figures before the end of the month. Complex Preparations. The complexity of the preparations for these cases and the short time allowed for their completion has put a severe tax on the offices concerned. Where guarantors were involved, notices had to be despatched to them and filed before December 31, and any guarantor not receiving notice before that date was automatically i absolved from any liability in the i adjustment. Guarantors in turn are I able to apply to have their own liabilities adjusted. Applicants Rights, I Where farms are held under mortgage, the occupants are entitled to apply to have their liabilities adjusted under the Act with a view to enabling them to remain on the farm as efficient farmers and to ensure that the liabilities are not greater than the productive value of the farm, or in the case of tenancy, that rent is not greater than the farm's value, j which is based on an average of pro- | duce prices over the past eight or ten i years. ,

in the case of home mortgages a similar assessment of the liabilities of th© mortgagor or tenant and of the value of the- property has to be made. Thus in every instance the representatives of each party in such cases have a great amount of assessment work, calculation and examination of records to do in order to placa the full facts before the Commission.