. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR •
Rent Tribunals
Sm.—Parliament is shortly to examine the Furnished Houses (Rent Con- trol) Act. In 1946 an Act was necessary. Its purpose was to fix reason- able rents. It appears to have been drafted without expert knowledge of the intricacies and scope of the furnished letting trade, and without consulting the representatives of that industry. It has proved a bad Act because it is vague and inequitable. Its administration by the Rent Tribunals has disclosed disturbing examples of bias and disregard for the principles of evidence and justice.
Since 1946 the London Apartments Association has been continually examining tribunal cases and decisions. This mass of evidence reveals that: (1) The chairmen and members of some Tribunals are persons not suited to hold judicial appointments.
(2) Many Tribunals are against the landlord, and have expressed this bias in their comments and decisions.
(3) There is no appeal to a higher court on a Tribunal's decision on rent, even if that decision bankrupts the landlord.
(4) The Act does not require Tribunals to base their decisions on evidence, nor to accept costs shown by audited accounts.
(5) In all cases within their, jurisdiction the Tribunal is the sole and final interpreter of the law embodied in the Act.
(6) A high proportion of rents fixed by Tribunals would, if an equivalent scale were applied to all rooms in a house, inevitably result in bankruptcy for the owner, and the loss of his invested capital and means of livelihood.
(7) An increasing number of unscrupulous tenants use the threat of the Tribunal as a means of blackmail. Tribunals rarely use their power under the Act to dismiss frivolous or vexatious references.
(8) Security of three months can be given to tenants on referring rent, and is usually renewed every three months indefinitely.
(9) Security has sometimes been given to tenants who have been given notice to quit for drunken disorder, improper conduct or immorality in a house. The owner is then left helpless and unable to maintain decency in his own house.
(10) There is no co-ordinated method of assessing rents. Each Tribunal evolves its own method, which it does not disclose.
Both the Act and its method of administration are in urgent need 'of amendment. Accurate and fair assessment of furnished rents, in all the broad variety and differentiation of standards within the industry, is very difficult. It is in fact possible only for persons with a wide practical knowledge of the trade. This knowledge the present Tribunals, however well intentioned, cannot supply, since they include neither representatives nor advisers from the industry. It is essential that the Act should include a right of appeal, whether on rents, security or jurisdiction. Unbridled power in a minor court must lead to a risk of Injustice and misuse of power. If fair and flexible methods of assess- ing running costs are to be evolved, the Government must consult the experts available in the trade associations ; in this case the national association is the British Hotels and Restaurants Association which, through its, own members and its affiliated associations, covers all levels
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