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79
to represent to the Council, except in, very exceptional circumstances,
unfit dwelling-houses for Closing Orders. Notwithstanding
this difficulty, very useful work was carried out in
getting seriously defective houses made reasonably fit for
habitation under the provisions of the 1919 Act, and reference
to the Summary on page 80 et seq. will show the extent to
which the powers under that Section were made use of by the
Council during 1920.
It is satisfactory to record that in about ninety per cent.
of the houses it was found unnecessary to have to resort to the
actual service of Section 28 notices, as by informal arrangement
with the owners, the Housing Committee were able to
secure that the requirements of the Council in respect of the
repairs necessary to remedy the insanitary condition of their
houses were carried out by the owners themselves. The procedure
usually employed was to enter into informal negotiations
with the owner or owners of houses, or groups of houses,
the state of which, on inspection, was found sufficiently serious
to require action being taken under the Housing Acts. As a
preliminary measure, the owner was requested to submit proposals,
in the form of a detailed specification, as to the steps
he was prepared voluntarily to take to render the dwellinghouses
in all respects reasonably fit for habitation, for the
consideration of the Housing Committee. These if found,
on examination, to be reasonably adequate and satisfactory
were approved, and the owner was notified to that effect and
requested to proceed with the work.
Some difficulty was at first experienced in getting a certain
type of owner of insanitary property to fall in with this
informal arrangement. The service of notice under Section 28
as a last resort was, however, usually found sufficient to remove
any doubt in the minds of such recalcitrant owner or owners as
objected to the attitude of the Housing Committee in regard
to the enforcement of the powers of the Council in relation to
insanitary house property. It is only fair to state, however,
that, in the main, owners of property rapidly fell into line with
this informal procedure, and the fact that it was found necessary
actually to serve notices under Section 28 in only about
ten per cent. of the large number of houses dealt with in 1920
is sufficient evidence of the willingness of the majority of owners
to fulfil their obligations in this respect.
It is further satisfactory to note that even in the minority
of cases where the service of notices was found necessary, the
repairs (as set out in the schedule of repairs served with the
notice upon the owner or owners concerned) were in most cases
carried out by the owners themselves under the supervision of
the sanitary inspectors.