New-York tribune., 1920-09-26
Stark b. Ferriss Suggests Laws Be Passed Making
Feasible for Tenants to Buy Apartments and
Enjoy All the Privileges of Private Ownership

owners of their apartments, so that
they may in a practical business way.
without legal complications, buy and
sell and borrow money upon their sep
arate apartments, the same as the
owner Of the small house can buy and
sell and mortgage his property, it seems
to me that we shall have at least q
partial solution of the problem.
1--WE have since sthe earliest times
had no difficulty in the law in dividing
our land ownerships perpendicularly
from the center of the earth to the
sky. The time is at hand when we
must devise a practical and workable
legal method of dividing our owner.
ships also horizontally, SO that large
apartment houses may be owned in sep
arate apartment units, with similar Sc
curity as that which attends and ac-
companies the ownership of small
houses.
How to Solve II
"The question will at once be asked,
How will you solve the problem of
heat and hot water and elevator and
Janitor service?' In answer | would
suggest that we pass laws authorizing
the incorporation of public service
! companies to furnish heat, hot water,
elevator and janitor service to such
, apartment houses as shall be brought
under the operation of such laws in
the same way that existing public SER
vice corporations are now enfranchised
to furnish electric light and gas. Such
companies should be subject to regula-
ton, and their charges should be fixed
and approved by some public service
commission so as to insure every owner
of a separate apartment the right to
the use of these necessities on pay-
ment of a fixed legal rate, the same as
every person in our community now
has the right to purchase gas or cleo
tricity.
1--WE have no difficulty in using the
streets of the city as means of access
| to our individual homes, and it is but
an extension of this principle to make
the elevators and Railways Of apart
ment houses public highways, from
which the owners of the several apart
ments cannot be cut off; in fact. they
are, in effect, public highways at the
present time. There seems to be no
insuperable legal objection to the work
ing out of such plan. To make it
entirely feasible and practical of
course. the several owners must, in
addition to having the right to buy
and sell their apartments with the
same facility as they would buy and
sell individual houses, be also able
practically to borrow money and mort
gage separately their individual apart
ments. 1t is a we'll known fact that the
safest and most satisfactory mortgage
loans are small loans on houses occu-
pied solely blythe owner and his family.
Safer to Distribute Money
"lt Is much simpler TO the large
money lenders to have one mortgage
for 100000 covering large apart
ment house than to have 100 mort
cages of $4,000 each covering sepa-
rately owned apartments; but on the
other hand. it is suggested that the
investment wsuld become at once a
safer investment If the lender held the
100 small mortgages than il he held
the one large mortgage. The 100 home
owners would each have the incentive
to pay Oft the mortgage and own his
apartment free and clear, the same as
the owner of the small house struRRlee
to pay OF the mortgage on his home,
and, Undoubtedly. the 81 ,o0o, 900 would
be repaid TO che landAr much more
quickly BY the 100 borrowers than BY
She one borrower of the 81 600 900.