Coal:

In houses occupied by colored tenants and foreigners, there is always rapid depreciation, as this class of tenant usually rents out rooms and has boarders, who are more or less careless of the premises. Buildings of this class begin to depreciate to a marked extent after the sixth year of their erection, but the matter of depreciation must be left largely to the discretion or judgment of the presiding judge. Where a house has been under the management of a lessee, there is no question but that the premises have depreciated in so much as the lessee generally has milked the holding dry, without doing any repairs.

This item can be figured on the English Thermal Heat Unit system, which amounts to an average of one and one-third tons of coal per room per year for steam heat and hot water supply. By getting the number of rooms in the house and adding ten per cent of the coal so computed for heating and hot water, for the heating of halls, you get the total of coal used. Example: For a house containing 90 rooms, at one and onethird tons per room, 120 tons. Where halls are heated add 10% to amount used, giving a total of 132 tons. This amount of coal allows for the usual ten per cent of loss in radiation and inferior quality of coal. The above amount of coal will be necessary to be used if owners of buildings comply with Chapter 951, Laws of 1920, passed at the Special Session of the Legislature, Sept. 27th, 1920. Another method of computation of coal supply allows 1 1/3 tons per room per year for steam heat and hot water supply in corner or exposed houses and 1 1/4 tons per room for inside houses.

Plumbing:

This item can be figured at $15 to $20 per apartment per year. Example: 20 apartments at $15 per year, $300. While this is not a very liberal allowance, it will take care of the general plumbing repairs.

Carpenter and Glazing:

This item can be figured at $5 per apartment per year, and is a liberal allowance.

Roofing:

This item is a structural repair, and averages about $125 per year on a building from 25 to 30 x 80. As a general rule a roof is guaranteed over a period of years, and should be charged over such a period of guarantee.

Hardware and Shades:

This item includes ash cans, locks, sash cords, nails, dumb-waiter supplies, etc., and can be figured to average $5 per apartment per year.

Janitor's Supplies:

This item includes soap, soap-powder, brooms, mops, polish, buckets, etc., and can be figured to average $3 per apartment per year. Gas & Electric Lights for Halls & Cellars:

This item averages $6 per month and does not include gas or electricity used in janitor's apartment.

Gas Range Rent:

Fixed charge.

Painting:

This much disputed item can only be figured on the demands made by the tenants. However, the painting of halls, front and rear of buildings, and whitewashing of air-shafts, and painting of fire-escapes, should be spread over at least a period of three years.

Electrician and Supplies:

This item is for labor on bells, sockets, and various supplies. This item is always disputed by the tenants, but there is undoubtedly such an expense.

Awnings:

This item can be figured as replaced every three years. putting up and 25 cents for

Boiler Overhauling:

a three-year expense, as awnings must be There is a yearly expense of 25 cents for taking down each awing.

This item will average $100 per year, allowing for possible tube repairs and grate replacement. New sections in hot water stoves should be spread over a period of three years.

IN ELEVATOR APARTMENTS THE FOLLOWING ITEMS MUST BE ADDED TO THE EXPENSE:

ELEVATOR OPERATORS' SALARIES.

TELEPHONE OPERATORS' SALARIES.

PHONE LOSS. There is unquestionably such a loss,

Elevator Maintenance:

This item costs from $500 to $900 per year, as replacement of cables and blocks as well as motor repairs are very costly.

Light and Power. For elevators.

To prove the figures as given in the average bill of particulars, outside of the fixed charges, including coal and painting, from 12-1⁄2 to 15 per cent of the rent roll are the average maintenance charges.

In regard to depreciation, where houses have been bought for speculative purposes during the past two years, depreciation should not be allowed, inasmuch as the property is on the market, and depreciation only means another item of profit.

New buildings should show no appreciable depreciation until the second year. Then, if proper repairs are made to damage to walls and ceilings through settling, appreciation should be shown, and depreciation charge should be allowed on the third year.

B

UNDER BILLS OF PARTICULARS IN REGARD TO SUITS FOR ADEQUATE RENTALS I HAVE CLASSIFIED FOUR (4) KINDS OF PROPERTIES, NAMELY:

I. A twelve story corner apartment in a select location on a plot 100x100 feet. II. A twelve story apartment on an inside plot of 50x100 feet in a select location.

III. A six story walk-up apartment with steam heat, hot water and electric light on a plot 50x100 feet.

IV. A five story tenement, with hot water, of the old fashioned dumb-bell type with two 4-room and two 3-room apartments on a floor, without baths and in the poorer districts.

IN ALL OF THE ABOVE TYPES OF PROPERTIES, THERE ARE FIXED CHARGES, SUCH AS INTEREST ON MORTGAGES, Land and Water Taxes, INSURANCE, DEPRECIATION AND MANAGEMENT CHARGES:

Depreciation.-Depreciation varies with the type of house. For instance, the depreciation in a twelve story fire-proof modern apartment house is not as great as in a house of the five or six story walk-up type, and the depreciation in the six story house with all improvements is not as great as in the tenement type: for the reason that the character of tenants becomes better as the character of the property becomes more select, and therefore the wear and tear becomes less.

I have properties under my charge, where the depreciation is figured at 2%, and then again, I have properties, such as tenement and factory buildings, where as high as 4% depreciation is figured,

Improvements. The cost of improvements of a permanent nature are added to the principal invested.

Where improvements and repairs such as new carpets, painting and decorating of halls, corridors and exteriors, putting up new screens and awnings or putting on a new roof, are made, or, generally speaking, when repairs are made that usually last for a period of three years or more, then it is the custom to spread the cost of these improvements or repairs over such a period as they will last.

Coal Consumption.-I find that one cannot employ a fixed rule as regards the coal consumption, as it varies according to the type of property. Tenants occupying the better class of properties are more exacting in their demand for heat and hot water than tenants occupying the medium or poorer class of property. Then again, some properties face more exposure than others, and therefore, more coal is needed for heating purposes. Properties along Riverside Drive and facing Central Park require more coal for heat than those not so exposed.

Typical cases for the purpose of testing figures of Bills of Particulars, as far as my experience shows, are as follows:

I. TWELVE STORY MODERN FIRE-PROOF APARTMENT BUILDING in a select neighborhood on a corner plot 100'x100'. Figure the fixed charges, such as Interest on Mortgages

Gas Ranges

Telephone

$350.

150.

Agents' commissions are based on 3% of the
amount of rents collected

THE GROSS RENTAL OF THIS BUILDING IS APPROXIMATELY $120,000.
PER ANNUM.“

II. TWELVE STORY APARTMENT Building, on AN INSIDE LOT OF 50'x100′

THE GROSS RENTAL OF THIS BUILDING 18 $58,000 per annum.

III. SIX STORY, FOUR FAMILY, WALK-UP APARTMENT BUILDING on a plot 501x1001 in a fair neighborhood, with all improvements except elevator and hall service.*

THE GROSS RENTAL OF THIS PROPERTY 18 $13,000 per annum.

IV. FIVE STORY TENEMENT-FOUR FAMILIES ON THE FLOOR-Two 4 and two 3-room apartments with no baths, only hot water.*

Janitor and apartment

Coal

$309.
265.

* The same fixed charges apply here as above under type I.