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10
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES
Much of the work of the Public Health Department is concerned
directly or indirectly with housing, and one major duty is to ensure that
inhabited houses are maintained in a fit state.
There are comparatively few houses in the Borough which did not suffer
any war damage and in general owners have been anxious to get war
damage repairs completed and they have done routine maintenance at the
same time. Although the general permission to do work to the value of
£100 per dwelling without a licence has allowed minor works to be completed
more quickly, the major works of repair and maintenance are still
subject to building licence control.
In these circumstances some owners have welcomed the serving of
statutory notices because of the assistance they afford in obtaining licences,
and in obtaining settlement of war damage claims, and some owners have
encouraged their tenants to make complaints to the Public Health
Department with a view to the serving of a notice.
The cost of maintenance is however extremely high and whilst owners
are willing, or even anxious, to carry out full repairs to property where a
substantial portion of the cost is covered by a war damage claim it is likely
that in the future they will be less willing to meet the costs of ordinary
maintenance.
It may be mentioned that the cost of maintaining those houses which
were built by the Council in 1920-22 has given rise to some concern.
Some private owners of older property have already indicated that with
present costs and with controlled rents they find that it would be uneconomic
to expend any money on properties which may only have a
moderate additional "life."
Other information concerning housing will be found in Section "E."