Evening star., 1924-02-20

Dut still are most annoying.
Does Congress also realize that a
tenant on his own initiative, without
solicitation or invitation, may volun-
| tarily offer to lease given property
at q given rent and, indeed. name the
, rent himself and enter into a valid
mutual contract Of lease for a definite
period of time and then subsequently
| repudiate his contract, violate his
moral and what should be his legal
Commission seeking a reduction in
his rent? In such a case. should it
| be the decision of the Rent Commits
sion, he could actually receive a re-
| auction, even though he had willingly
and knowingly contracted to pay an
other sum? On the other hand, as I
! understand the law, an owner in this
! typical case / mention could not, dur
ing the term OF the lease, go in to the
| Rent Commission and seek to in
crease the rent that had been named
! In the lease executed
Then, again, a tenant may contract
with the owner to take piece of
property temporarily for definite
| time and the owner. because of GER
tain conditions and circumstances
] may not desire to have the property
occupied beyond that given time and
mutually agrees with the tenant that
he Will rent it for that limited time.
with the understanding that he be
! given possession at the end of the
period. This arrangement might even
he for thirty or sixty days. entered
, into by both parties in perfect good
faith, Yet should the tenant see fit he
can continue to remain on indefinitely
provided he pays the rent.
'Secs\ Unequal Obligations.
, 'In adjusting the rent through the
Rent Commission the owner is obli-
gated under the law to refund to the
| tenant the difference between the
rent he has collected and the amount
the Rent Commission fixes. should it
| fix lower amount, and this refund
must date back to the time of filing
the complaint. Generally speaking.
/ a property owner is responsible and
it is possible for the tenant to sure
| and recover on judgment should
! the property owner fail to refund.
On the other hand, should the Rent
Commissions decision be an increase
in rent and dated back over'a period
of months, the owner has, generally
speaking, no way of recovering from
the tenant unless the tenant should
own property or securities that the
owner might levy on in payment of
his Judgment.
The number of government en-
I ployes today rs compared with the
peak during the war should indicate
that the emergency that caused this
legislation has passed. 1t is a fact
.
on the market available to tenants
and many of them have been avail
able for several months, with the
owners and their agents actively en-
deavoring to secure tenants.
rs the government to regulate the
cost of living to suit the salaries it
pays its employees? If SO. why not
regulate the cost of food. clothing
and other necessities that enter into
the cost of living? Would it not be
Fntr ha bat f.,l.
that he could not charge a given
price for porterhouse steak because
his customers could not afford to pay
that price. Would you expect place
modities generally to charge lower
price for their services n commodi-
ties on the ground that certain por-
tions of the people could not afford
to pay these prices?
is not the regulation of rents
exactly similar and should not, there
fore, the regulation Of rents be
classed as price fixing? This, |
believe. is economically unsound and
against the principles of free gov
licly opposed by the most prominent
leaders. even including President
Coolidge. who recently stated that
he was opposed to price fixing"
No "appreciable" evidence has been
presented that rents are being in
creased. John Bowie, vice president
of the II. L. Rust Company, told the
subcommittee.
He said he had been misquoted, and
that he had not said that % per cent
Of the rents at $50 or less would be
increased but that what he meant to
convey was that he would "be sur
prised" if such was the case.
Mr.. Bowie also expressed the opinion
that there were not enough com
plants reaching the Rent Commission
TO justify its continued existence.
Chairman Whaley of the Rent Com
mission replied that between e5 and
115 complaints per month come before
the commission.
There are more apartments vacant
now than year ago, Joseph G.
Bowling, vice president of the B. F.
Saul Company, told the subcommittee.
He said that his concern has forty
vacancies renting from $40 to 500,
but admitted that only one rents for
$40 and only four at $50.
a resolution favoring the extension
of life for the Rent Commission as
prescribed by the Journeymen Book
binders Union was read into the rec
ord.