Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 61 Part 1.djvu/220

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PUBLIC LAWS-CH. 163-JUNE 30, 1947 60stat. 207. 60U.8.C.app. ii 1821-1833 . Ante, p. 193. Penalty. 60 Stat. 664 . 60U.8.C. app. I901etseq.; 15U.S .C. 713 notes. Termination of Fed- eral restrictions on rents. this Act shall affect or remove any veteran's preference require- ments heretofore established under Public Law 388, Seventy-ninth Congress, and outstanding with respect to housing accommoda- tions completed prior to the date of the enactment of this title. (b) This section shall cease to be in effect whenever the President proclaims that the protection to such veterans and their families pro- vided by this section is no longer needed. (c) For purposes of this section (1) the Housing Expediter shall prescribe by regulations the time as of which construction of housing accommodations shall be deemed to be completed, and (2) the term "person" shall have the meaning assigned to such term in section 1 (b) (3) of this Act. (d) Any person who willfully violates any provision of this section shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine of not more than $5,000 or to imprisonment for not more than one year, or to both such fine and imprisonment. TITLE II-MAXIMUM RENTS DECLARATION OF POLICY SEC. 201. (a) The Congress hereby reaffirms the declaration in the Price Control Extension Act of 1946 that unnecessary or unduly pro- longed controls over rents would be inconsistent with the return to a peacetime economy and would tend to prevent the attainment of the goals therein declared. (b) The Congress therefore declares that it is its purpose to termi- nate at the earliest practicable date all Federal restrictions on rents on housing accommodations. At the same time the Congress recog- nizes that an emergency exists and that, for the prevention of inflation and for the achievement of a reasonable stability in the general level of rents during the transition period, as well as the attainment of other salutary objectives of the above-named Act, it is necessary for a limited time to impose certain restrictions upon rents charged for rental housing accommodations in defense-rental areas. Such restric- tions should be administered with a view to prompt adjustments where owners of rental housing accommodations are suffering hardships because of the inadequacies of the maximum rents applicable to their housing accommodations, and under procedures designed to minimize delay in the granting of necessary adjustments, which, so far as prac- ticable shall be made by local boards with a minimum of control by any central agency. (c) To the end that these policies may be effectively carried out with the least possible impact on the economy pending complete decontrol, the provisions of this title are enacted. DEFINITIONS SEC. 202. As used in this title- (a) The term "person" includes an individual, corporation, partner- ship, association, or any other organized group of persons, or a legal successor or representative of any of the foregoing. (b) The term housing accommodations" means any building, struc- ture, or part thereof, or land appurtenant thereto, or any other real or personal property rented or offered for rent for living or dwelling purposes (including houses, apartments, rooming- or boarding-house accommodations, and other properties used for living or dwelling purposes) together with all rivileges, services, furnishings, furniture, and facilities connected with the use or occupancy of such property. 196 [61 STAT.