New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-08-12
Beach
Tenants Fight
For Homes
Rockaway Point Residents
Who Built Bungalows on
Leased Ground Warned
of SO Per Cent Increase
Plan to Oppose s'Crab''
Head of Company Owning
Sites Says ssAccept Terms
or Get Off Our Propertv''

Several thousand residents of Rock
away Point, Roxbury and Point Breeze
are aroused over what they term an
attempt of the Rockaway Point Com
pany to gain possession of their bunpa-
lows. The tenants assert that. ALTHOUGH
they own these bungalows, the COM
pany from whom most of them were
purchased is imposing such conditions
IN the new leases for the land upon
which they were built that it will prac-
tlcally amount to grab" of their
homes.
Plans to fight the so-called "grab"
will be discussed at a meeting Of the
Rockaway Point Association, compris-
ing most of the owners of the bunga-
lows, tomorrow night.
According to some of the tenants.
William M. Greve, head of the Rock
away Point Company, has notified the
residents that the new leases for the
land upon which their bungalows stand
Will include SO per cent increase in
rental, charge Of SO wear for tax-
able assessments, SIS a year for gar
bage removal, charges for fire insur-
ance, partly in the company's favor,
and the provision that at the end of
SIX years title to the bungalows will
revert to the~ Rockaway Point Com
pany.
New Leases Next Week
The new leases are expected to be in
the hands of the tenants next week.
IF they are not satisfied with the
TERMS" an official of the company is
reported as saying, "they make take
their bungalows off the company's
grounds"
The tenants say the majority of the
four thousand bungalows at these three
resorts were built on land leased from
the Rockaway-Pacific Company, a sub
sldlary of the Southern Pacific Com
pany. AT the time of the purchase of
the homes from the Rockaway Point
Company the tenants received a bill of
sale.
There was never any question as to
.''~Ah o"H snip, IL was SdlC, and DUR
ing the eight years of their tenancy
thu residents had been verbally assured
from time to time that there would be
no trouble over the renewal of their
land leases. AS the matter stands, it
is pointed out by the tenants, more
than twenty thousand persons will be
deprived of homes which they bought
and paid for.
Greye Cites State Law
Presenting the company's side, Mr..
Greve pointed to the common law of
New'York State. under which property
erected on leased ground reverts to
the owner of the ground at the eXpi-
ration of the lease.
That there is question of title To
the property is indicated in letter
Mayor Hylan yesterday wrote to
Charles D. Newton, Attorney General
of the State. The letter reads:
81 understand that the State of New
York is ltigating with the Rockaway
Pacific Company the title to the lands
which cover vast acreage at Rock
away Point. Recently the alleged own
ers of this land have served notice
of an increase in the rents paid by
those who have erected bungalows
there.
~ write to ask you whether you may
not be able to find some way of pro-
tecting the tenants. If the title to
these lands is in the state, you may
find a solution for the difficulty pre-
sented by the bungalow owners. Your
cooperation in this matter will be
aprpeciated.'