XN000022-1973-09-19 — Page 6

5.

Wednesday, September 19, 1973

HOUSING SHCRIETARY TO MEET ESTATE SHOP TENANTS

Mr. Ian Lightbody, Secretary for Housing, has invited representatives

of shopkeepers in public housing estates and estate Kaifong members to meet

hin on Friday (September 21) to discuss the new shop tenancy agreements pro-

posed recently by the Housing Authority.

Mr. Roger Lobo, Chairman of the Management Committee of the Housing

Authority will also attend. Nearly 11,000 shopkeepers in the older public

housing estates at present hold their premises on a month-to-month tenancy

card basis. Under the new system they are being asked to sign a long term

agreement.

Since the new agreement was proposed shopkeepers and estate Kaifongs

have sent representatives to the Housing Department objecting to some of its

conditions.

A Housing Department spokesman said today: "We have met representatives

of several shopkeepers groups and listened sympathetically to the points they

Tiere soos to be some misapprehension that the main object to the

raised.

agreement is to undermine their security of tenure.

#This in fact is not the case. We have said repeatedly that we have

no intention of terminating tenancies."

In a letter going out to each individual shopkeeper today, Mr. Ralph

Husband, Deputy Director of Estate Management, commenting on the coming meeting

between lir. Lightbody and shopkeepers representatives, says:

"I am sure that these discussions will help considerably to clarify

the various problems which some shop tenants see in these new arrangements, and

the department will then consider what can be done to meet these difficulties."

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