Government has postponed raising its tenants' rents.

Housing Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness yesterday told The Royal Gazette the rent increase -- which was to begin next week -- would be delayed until September 1.

This, Mr. Edness added, was to give him time to meet again with tenants who have complained about the increase and other public housing issues.

Due to a prior engagement, he said he postponed a meeting with tenants at St.

Augustine Hall in Pembroke last night, but planned to meet with them after the Cup Match holiday.

Meanwhile, tenants Islandwide this week received a letter from the Bermuda Housing Corporation, informing them that their rents would not be raised from August 1.

The rent hikes -- which Mr. Edness has promised will be reduced from a range of 26 to 19.4 percent to 12.5 percent -- was part of Government's three-year plan to bring its residential rents "more in line with market level''.

A widespread BHC review showed that total annual rents being charged to Government tenants were some $1.3 million less than the total market rents of the properties, Mr. Edness has stated. And the BHC also noted that it had not increased its rents during the recession.

In a letter to tenants about the postponement of rent hikes, BHC properties and rentals manager Mr. Tudor Smith wrote: "We believe it is desirable to allow some additional time to clarify, for some tenants, the important difference between the rent we charge for a house and the rent that they themselves pay.

"Some tenants have genuine affordability problems and may seek financial assistance, if they wish. This assistance reduces the rent that they themselves must pay.

"The August 1 rent increases advised in our letters of May 31, 1995, are therefore postponed, and probably until September 1, 1995. Please continue to pay your rent as normal until further notice.'' The letter came less than a week after Government tenants in St. George's complained about the conditions of the Murray Apartments.

The apartments -- which were used as army barracks -- were falling to pieces, tenants said, citing rotting windows, a crumbling upper-level porch, and holes in the floor as some of the main problems.

Tenants have also told The Royal Gazette that the majority of people renting the apartments were single women, including two senior citizens who were unable to make their own repairs.

They said Government needed to fix up its apartments before raising rents.

And Murray Apartments tenant Ms Maxinne Walker complained that the letter from Mr. Smith did not address any of residents' concerns.

"We told Mr. Smith the increase was not the issue,'' she said. "It is the state of the apartments.'' Ms Walker also complained that workmen "on Mr.

Smith's authority'' removed everything from tenants' porches while they were at work on Tuesday.

"They removed an 80-year-old female tenant's garden supplies and an antique which was clearly not garbage,'' she said. "And she said they were rude to her.'' Ms Walker added that the elderly woman had been without hot water for three months, prior to this week when the BHC repaired her hot water heater.

Murray Apartments tenants fired off a letter to BHC general manager Mr. Edwin Cowen earlier this week.

But Mr. Cowen refuted their complaints in a letter dated July 25.

"I do not share your opinion of the condition of units,'' he said. "Of the seven units which I visited with Mr. Smith none had floors that were sagging or the joists rotten! There were some indications of termites but no "termite droppings throughout''...'' Mr. Cowen agreed that windows on the southern side of the apartment building had rot and there was water penetration.

"However,'' he wrote, "I do not agree that it is as bad as you infer and the main source of penetration is from cracked plaster which is lifting away from the stone and which we have known about for some time.

"It is not, in our opinion, of such a magnitude that we need to stop everything else that we are doing in order to re-plaster the entire exterior.'' Mr. Cowen said BHC had a five-year refurbishment plan for all public houses and Murray Apartments fell in its 1996/97 budget.

Meanwhile, he added, the BHC planned to carry out "routine maintenance in September''.

However, when contacted yesterday Mr. Smith refused to answer specific questions about Murray Apartments.

And Mr. Edness, who tenants said they have never heard from, said the Murray Apartments situation was "pretty much in hand''.

"I've spoken to Mr. Cowen about that,'' he said. "That place is slated for major improvements in October. In the meantime there are things that are serious to tenants, but they can be picked up in time.'' ROTTING WINDOWS -- That is just one problem residents in Murray Apartments, like Ms Maxinne Walker, said Government should address before raising rents.