Evening star., 1945-03-05
Landlords DENY
Business Rents
Are0utofLine
Rise Is Only a Per Cen,
In Two Years, They
Tell Hearing

SolillIllttet eIlQeQ To-Day a1tef land.
lords representatives presented fig.
ures to show that such rents hav.
increased 4.01 per cent in the las
two years.
In the light of these figures anc
because the number of complaint.
concerning commercial rent abuse.
has been small, F. Gloyd Await
representing the Washington Rea
Estate Board and the District
Building Owners and Managers AS.
sociation, asked the committee moi
to recommend any legislation which
would control commercial rents.
Raymond M. Taylor, vice chair.
man of the Real Estate Boards
Business Property Leasing Commit,
tee, told the subcommittee headed
by Representative Murphy, Demo-
crat, of Pennsylvania, that 1,484
commercial properties had beer
surveyed last week. There were 81
decreases in rent during the two
years, he said.
The total rental for the proper.
ties surveyed was $324,515 last
month, compared to S316,817 on Jan.
uary a year ago. He pointed Out
this represented an increase during
the past year of 2.43 per cent. The
increase between January, 1943. anc
January, 1914, he said, was 1.54 pei
cent.
Lusk Reports on Survey.
In similar survey conducted by
the Building Owners and Managers
Association, Rufus S. Lusk, secre-
tary, said about IS per cent of all
Office space in the District was
studied and that the rise in rentals
between December, 1912, and De-
cember, 1914, was only 432 per cent
During the same period, he testi-
fed, operating costs went up about
1.3 per cent. He said, however
that this did not represent the ac-
tual increase, since much repair
and maintenance work must be de-
ferred to the postwar period and
that money set aside for such re-
pairs is subject to taxation. AS a
result, he explained, it is often
necessary to save two or three times
the actual amount of the repairs.
Mr.. Await told the committee that
during the period that commercial
rents increased from to As per
cent the cost of living in the District
rose sgt per cent. He said that the
survey of office buildings, covering
more than one-third of such space
In the District, exclusive of those
buildings taken over in entirety by
the Government, indicated only 166
rent increases for Ills tenants con-
tinuously occupying the same space.
The survey of other commercial
properties, he said, showed 269 in
creases and 81 decreases among
1,484 tenants.
Mr.. Await maintained that rent
control over commercial properties
would be complicated and that
many difficulties would arise which
would in some cases cause inequities
to both tenants and landlords.
Lotus Charges Defended.
Louis Gutenberg, representing the
Cass Realty Co., which is acting for
the owner of a property at 713-727
Fourteenth street NV. occupied by
the Lotus Restaurant, appeared as
witness to defend the landlord
against charges made by an agent
Tor the restaurant at the hearing a
week ago. At that time it was
charged that the owner of the build
ing had forced" a rent increase of
more than 100 per cent on the res
taurant operators as a prerequisite
to signing new lease.
Mr.. Gutenberg presented cor
respondence between the realtv
company and the representatives of
the Cooperative Restaurant Corp,
which operates the restaurant,
showing that the owner was re-
luctant to renew the lease which
expired last year because he en-
vlsloned other postwar plans for
the building. However, Mrs. Mabel
Benson Sakis, attorney for the COM
pany, proposed a lease which would
terminate six months after the
armlstlce with Germany and which
would have provided for a rental
OF $4,000 annually. A lease on the
property was finally signed calling
Tor this annual rental plus 8 per
cent OF gross sales over $3.50 900.
MIR. Gutenberg said that when the
Lotus management first complained
publicly of the high rental last
summer, the building owner offered
TO determine the new lease and ac-
cept rental of 8 per cent of gross
sales with simple agreement. put
tnng the tenant on a monthly basis
That offer has never been ac-
cepted by this tenant nor bv anvone
IN Its behalf" Mr.. Gutenberg said.
The offer is now renewed without
qualification
Warner Rentals Cited.
A. Julian Brylawski, manager of
Warner Bros. local real estate hold
lngs, said a survey of the 1853 stores
and offices owned by Warner Bros
indicated relatively small increases
In rents. He said a survey on this
subject was currently being con-
quoted by the Washington Board of
Trade. -
John C. Kahn, owner of the
building at 1108 Sixteenth street
NV, defended himself against ac-
cusations of some tenants made
last week that they had been
evicted although they were willing
TO pay reasonable rent increases
Mr.. Kahn said he had found it
necessary to spend large sums of
money in renovating the building
and that he had ordered some
evlctions to provide room for his
own offices and to be able to rent
the third and fourth floors to firms
engaged in the war effort.
Chairman Murphy said the sub
committee would study the record
OF the hearings to decide whether
any recommendations should be
made to the District Committee
.ontgomery's Mother |
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