つら
-
C
straw who hoped to make a quick boom profit were deservedly punished, and it is a fact that in the years 1933 to 1937 there was in the Colony what has been described to us as an overbuilt position". but the majority of property owners must be regarded as legitimate investors, and had it not been for the overbuilt position, the present acute shortage of accommodation would have been much accentuated.
3. During the years of severe depression, property owners were left with great numbers of vacant tenements on their hands, and were glad to find tenants at rentals which did not yield an economic return on capital outlay. Many tenants availed themselves of this position to move into a class of premises considerably superior to that which they would normally occupy, and when, with the increased demand for accommodation due mainly, but probably not entirely, to the outbreak of the present Sino-Japanese hostilities, rents began to show an upward tendency, these tenants found themselves faced with demands for rentals which they could not afford to meet but which were not in the great majority of cases at all exorbitant having regard to the class of property in respect of which they were charged. The Government Assessor of Rates gave us an example in his evidence of flats let in Wongneichong for $145 per month four or five years ago, fetching after the slump and until the commencement of the upward tendency only $70 per month, and later made the general statement that in some cases where he had found what appeared to be a very heavy increase in rent, investigation had shown that during the depression rents were excessively low for the class of property concerned. If a more normal level of rental were taken as a standard, there was in fact no excessive increase.
4. Many other tenants did not move from their residences, but reaped the benefit of the slump by threatening to quit unless their landlords reduced the existing rents. The landlords were forced to agree to reduction in order to avoid being left with empty and wholly unremunerative premises on their hands. The Govern- ment Assessor of Rates summed up this aspect of the situation in his evidence in the words tenants have for the past few years been holding a pistol to the landlords heads
5. Our attention was thus directed to the question whether the rentals which we had been informed had been increased or were about to be increased had on the average reached or were about to reach a rate of rental higher than that prevailing for the same premises before the depression set in.
6. A prominent member of the Chinese community, whom we invited to give evidence, stated that up to November, 1937, beyond which date he had not pursued enquiries, statistics showed that rentals had not gone back to pre-depres- sion figures.
7. We next investigated the records at the office of the Government Assessor of Rates from 1928 or, in the case of new buildings, from the first assessment, until the present time, paying particular attention to the premises referred to by landlords and tenants in their written or oral statements.
8. Of some 269 addresses, some of which probably included several floors, only 213 provided sufficient data upon which to base any conclusions whatever. In only 45 of these 213 cases did the Government Assessor's records of assessment show definite figures for 1933 and 1937, the figure for 1937 being confirmed by the tenant, who also provided a figure for 1938. Of the 45 cases, 8 showed an increase of rent above the 1933-1934 level; 11 showed a return to that level; 17, while increased beyond the 1937 level, had not reached the 1933-1934 level and in 5 cases we were already aware that a bare notice to quit had been given. Of the 8 cases showing an increase over the 1933-1934 level, one related to a factory, one to a school and one, we learned from the landlord, was really a notice to quit. Of the remaining cases, the increases over the 1933-1934 level were either small or,
in relation to the class of premises concerned, not excessive.
9. As regards the 168 cases remaining after deducting the 45 cases of which there were exact assessment figures for the years 1933 and 1937, we were in some difficulty, for assessments had often been made on whole houses and we had therefore in such cases to make an estimate of floor rents by having regard to the rent of the whole house and inquiring what rents were the basis of assessment for comparative floors in the neighbourhood. In order to avoid any possibility of bias, we made this estimate without having the figures given by landlords and tenants before us, and with some doubt we consider that in 29 cases the rent has been raised above the 1933-1934 level; in 22 cases has been restored to that level; in 52 cases has been raised above the 1937 level, but has not yet reached the 1933-1934 level and in 27 cases has been raised above the 1937 level with no figures of pre-depression rentals available. In 36 cases we were already aware that bare notice to quit had been given. The remaining 2 cases are probably increases to a high rent with a view to getting rid of the tenant.
10. Although we have done our best to arrive at a correct conclusion, these figures are at best guesswork, and may be either too high or too low. Even the figures relating to the 45 cases mentioned above are only approximate. We prefer to place greater reliance on the facts and figures set forth in the succeeding para- graphs of this Report.
Illustrations from Written and Oral Evidence.
11. A tenant of a floor in Glenealy wrote to us, and his own words are illuminating "I have been living in the above address.
since 1935 June paying a monthly rent of 860 and in December 1935 I asked for a reduction of $10 and my landlord
only comply with it when I sent in the month's notice to leave
$60 rent I could not pay, but as the locality is good I meant to stay for 6 months only unless finding me a good and regular tenant the landlord will reduce the rent to $50". It will be observed that the tenaney com- menced during the depression, and that the tenant obtained accommodation of a type for which he could not afford to pay even during that period in the hope of obtaining a reduction. The landlord now proposes to raise the rent to $65 per month.
12. A tenant in Kennedy Road writes: "For over two years I have been paying a rental of $90. When I moved in, this place was not at all considered a bargain (witness the fact that it had been vacant for some time before I took it over)
Again the rent of $90 commenced during the depression and
it is obvious that the landlord would accept a rental at that figure rather than leave the premises vacant.
13. A letter in the issue of the South China Morning Post of the 17th March, 1938, alleged an increase in rental as follows :—
"Another house in Kowloon :——
Old Rent $60. New Rent $100, an increase of 66} per cent.; subject to a lease for 2 years being signed within 15 days of netice, the new rent is to be reduced to $90".
The letter went on to allege extortion on the part of "one of the biggest property owners in the Colony". The writer of this letter did not appear before us, but his landlords did, and from unimpeachable evidence we are satisfied that the true facts are as follows:—
[
In September, 1930, the flat (not house) in question was let for $107 per month "including taxes and water". In December, 1930, the rent was adjusted to $95 per month
"exclusive of taxes". (This really means rates). This adjustment amounted to a monthly liability on the part of the tenant to pay $110.80. In September, 1933, by which time the depression was beginning to make itself felt, the tenant asked for a reduction of his rent to $90, adding that he would be compelled to give notice if his request was not acceded to. The landlords did not agree to the reduction, the tenant left, and the flat stood vacant for over two months.
76
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.