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Show CROFT W iiniRis Representative Plans Eill Limiting Returns From Apartments. W. B. Covey Denies That Rents at Present Are Excessively Ex-cessively High. "rf the cc.'A for a special session of the state legislature will permit, I will introduce in-troduce a bill which will provide that ail profit in excess of a reasonable return on the investment made in apart re.ent house operations shall be taken by the btate in the form of an excise tax." This statement on the rent situation was made yesterday by Representative C. If. Croft of Morgan county, a frea.uent visitor in Salt Lake, who said he biliov. s the problem is oiv most vi:al to the interests in-terests of the nubhe ;t ; r'c:i!. The Inno'n.d p '.:,- of ihe rising rent situation i:i Salt , wa iiw.i yeiT-c.y yeiT-c.y by W. Si. Co .-y of Hie Covey Tnvost-ment Tnvost-ment company. Mr. Covey claims that r-m's even now ha1 i- nor reached more than n. normal h'-ve", despite the increase In the cost of maintenance. Covey Gives Figures. His statement follows: "Several articles have appeared of late in the various Salt Lake newspapers, the Inference generally being: that the landlords land-lords in raising rents are doing: so with a vfew to profiteering:. "We desire to emphatically deny this. "In the first place we found, upon checking back, that our average net income in-come for the last five years has been less than 5 per cent on the money we have actually had invested in our properties. prop-erties. The articles printed in the Salt Lake newspapers of kite and hich rat-js of interest on the investments that have been printed by some are certainly ridiculous ridic-ulous and show absolute ignorance on the rart of the parties making such statements. state-ments. "In 1915 and 1016. when we built the Buckingham. ..Hnieres: and New Kensington, Kensing-ton, the efty was full of empty apartments, apart-ments, and as a result rents were the lowest they had been for years, being: far below normal, and all advances to date have not inoru than gotten the in back- to normal. Rents Formerly Higher. "The rents as shown by our records in our -old rent ledgers prove that we arc not getting: as high rent now as we wt-re ten years ago, a comparison of which is as follows : In liH'S rents at the Kensington Ken-sington were $40 a rhomb for four-room apartments and $45 to $47.5.0 for the five-room five-room apartments. Sln.-e then we have put in new light fixtures, much but ter ranges, r.ew mirror doors and built on sleeping porches, and the rents today are $3i, S3 $.50 and $40 for four rooms, ami S43.5- $45 and $47.50 for the five-room apartments. At our La France property in l f r S our four-room apartments rented at $:.'-5 and the five-room at $4i. Today the four-room four-room apartments rent at J.rci a nd the five-room at $o7.5m. Notwithstanding the fr.ct that we have put in pew m -d-.-rr. light fixtures, new gas ranges, new mirror mir-ror doors, new oak floors in living ami dining rooms ana built on new slepmir porches, none of which they had in !:: at the higher rentals. Comparisons Made. Also th cottages in the roar of this property in l'.'OS rented, the four-room, at J?-.50 and the five-room at 57. 50. Xow-the Xow-the four-room are renting at J'i and the five-room are renting at ?J5. Our raise, which wiil go into effect Sep' ember I. of $2.50 on the cottages and on the apartments will put the cottages back to where they were in :'0 and t he apartments $2.50 per month hiclwr. Tb:s $2.50 per month higher rate on the apartments apart-ments will not pay i: it rest on the cost of the added improvements. "Our new apartments were built and rented when rents were at the very owfvt ebb, and are now oriy b.n'k to v. hre. they shou'd be in norm;-! ::n:-:--. not w ;h-s ;h-s tending the fact. h.w ev. r. t h v ever;. -thing eise is abnormafy high, which r.d-ls more than 1 0'"' per cent to o u r eo s t o f maintenance and opera li-m. "On cheeking over uid mv df.es. salaries, etc., we find the percent a u-e of incre.is-- i i in operation costs compared to two or I ; ;r.ree years airo r.s folio ws: i - ".Salaried rmr3.yees. f.,". per cent; j ! pluiubin jupj!u-s, plumlMiicr labor, I wailnapr. -: paperp.anginff. L'5; ! ; paints, leti; nils. pi-.intvrs' labor. 44;: . carpent.-rs" lab--r. i'r nav laborers and I : e.eaners. l-;e: jzlas.s C-i: c.al. 73; oil-i'1'Uh, oil-i'1'Uh, Inn; l!r.oIi'.;i!i, IL'."; carpets, 1-5; 1 lire i:.s-;ranee sur:ax. 1.; window shades, ; laundry, 4,1; curtains, 7 ; linen, 175. "Thie. 1.. 1 ?ourse. are oniv a few of ; the i;.-n:s we use. but the hundreds of othi'i- items that po into eur expense ac-, ac-, ce;:r.t have had similar advances. j "a:.-o we are enrpioyinsr mure help and ; srivins a hiciier standard of serviet.- and upkeep than furnK-rly and lonper h Mirs of j hen t in winter, ar.d then our spacious lawns. iw rbeds. etc., whii- tl:"ey are , very beautiful, are aiso very expensive to maintain. Tenants must not expect to ; uet these luxuries at the same price they ! comM ait raeiive and nuirh less de- : sirahie apartments; ner must they expect ;.us to hear the burden alone of the thou-: thou-: sands and thu'.isandd of dollars 'additional 1 expense, which we have done in the ; past. I "Any well-tn fi rmed person will know 1 our raise is conservative and justifiable. , Combination Denied. ; "The inference that there is a oombi-i oombi-i nation of landirds is positively at error. ' W har.dh- our own b'.:s:n..-s and kiu-w w , a : w , p. re crn p e i I e d to do and art . ind-- peiid-itiy a:ui aione. i "iier.s i:i S.iit Lake are ridiculously 1 low. 'e had occasion t rherk a certain j romal roptjrty uf a valuation of J,".'"1..-!!,! I of a pa r: iv.--nts arid iio'ases. all nil .ri.-m i and Wt-W i-ca: -d ri a uaikii'ij ditain-e I on the east s.d- and. after de-iuotin 2 ! per (nt :--r d-ji-re.-iati'tn "it buiidmi;.-, it ' ran in the red, or. in other words. the ex ;"!: and dfpreeiati'-n amounted j to Ji.-") more than t lie total income- for t :!;. Many o,b..-r ren'.ai properties wiii run the ame way or wrse if a careful j rhc-k is kept on ihtrn and a 2 per r--nt i d'-preeiath n is furared, whieh is th amourit of d- ; r- . .ation the p-f rnmnt :!!!-.v. Thin if one a:tempis to s.ivp I him - elf -y arid : r c a I i : r 1 e to The r-n; s 1 he L-- 1 verhistur-oy f'.ad. and is a rh- b-r. tho? n. '-ar.es' craftmcr man on emih. I "Tbrr-' !.- a cr-u -n n 1 p'a ; 1 1 af-oat tii. i Fn'-r'.a:-' of r'-n' a 1 pn ) rt i-s. V want j 10 ' ii'.-.v t'a;t: Th-ie 'Aiil b no r- '.tal j ho'..-; or ;M,,ir"i buiir for 1-iVMr. n---rt iy m.y ; v. ' ':'. n; . w Ih-infoj-n-d p--son un-d r-nts auvanee ."n per ,-,.r t more or build::,): ciMs are red need .'15 (' "' r ' e:ir. 1 01:, f 1-1, ,r with greatiy re-ductd re-ductd c'; .f 01 T.i'.io:i." |