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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 27, No. 2. 1964.

Landlords Exploit Students

Landlords Exploit Students

You'l find him in a telephone booth with a first edition paper, fist full of pennies, scanning the "To Let" column and dialling furiously.

. . . Recognise him?—Yes, the student hunting for a flat.

With landlords turning him away in ever increasing numbers, and rents going up, he's becoming a common species around town.

What is he to do ?

If he wants to be by himself he could get a bed-sitter for three or four pounds, plus gas, plus electricity . . . Conditional on a small point . . .

He must convince" the landlord first that he's not an alcoholic marijuana smoking rake bent on destroying the aforementioned Hat or bed-sitter.

He must put it over well too, because he knows that the "sober young Christian gent" ad he pul in the "Accommodation Wanted" column just didn't seem to go down.

White shirt, tie and short back and sides are the order of the day.

The optimist might be saying that the general picture is not this bad at all so a little example of the tactics adopted by one Wellington landlord:

The tenants (half of whom were students) of eight bed-sitters in Terrace Gardens received a week's notice recently. The explanation by the landlord: "We're going to do the place up a bit and put students in there."

It will be interesting to see what he asks for the rooms, as he was already charging £4/10/- and £2 10/- for the double and single rooms respectively.

'Doing the place up a bit" has so far entailed a partition separating the bathroom and toilet and an extra hand basin.

The household (11 people in all) handled the situation fairly well. A lawyer was contacted and said landlord was reminded of his legal obligations to the tenants. He had to of course, give a month's notice in a "proper legal manner." (First notice was given over the 'phone.)

What's to be done? . . . The problem is obvious enough, but apart from the tenants of Wellington rising up as one man and crying "Unfair!" there is little hope for the student.

One thing, though . . . It's in his own interests that he learns his legal rights as a tenant.

Perhaps a law student could produce the necessary precis on the Tenancy Act for general distribution?