View report page

19
HOUSING REPAIRS AND RENTS ACT, 1954
This Act, which came into force on the 30th August, 1954, enables a landlord
whose property is in good condition to claim a repairs increase on the rent,
provided he serves the necessary notices declaring that he has satisfied the
expenditure test etc. If the tenant is dissatisfied with the condition of his house
he can apply to the local authority for a certificate of disrepair. If this is granted
the increase in the rent can be withheld until such time as the landlord remedies
the items of disrepair enumerated in the certificate and obtains from the local
authority a certificate of revocation.
Little use was made of this Act. Applications for certificates of disrepair
received were 14, which were granted. Applications for revocation certificates
received and granted were 28, compared with 36 applications for disrepair
certificates and one for a revocation certificate dealt with during the last four
months of 1954.
The high cost of repairs and the low permitted increase of rent is doubtless
the reason for little use of the provisions of the Act being made by landlords.
HOUSING—CLEARANCE OF UNFIT HOUSES
A preliminary survey was made during the year of the district as required
by the Act.
As a result of this survey a clearance scheme involving forty houses was
submitted to the Minister of Housing and Local Government.
INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF FOOD
The supervision of premises and stalls where foods are prepared, stored or
exposed for sale has been regularly carried out, 1,369 visits being made in this
connection.
On a few occasions the attention of the persons concerned was called to
contraventions of the byelaws made under Section 15, Food and Drugs Act,
1938, but in one of these cases was it considered necessary to take statutory
action.
Legal proceedings were taken against a butcher in respect of two offences
under Section 9, Food and Drugs Act, 1938, for having in his possession for
sale food which was unfit for human consumption. Fines of £5 were imposed
in respect of each offence.
Legal proceedings were also taken against a baker under Section 3, Food
and Drugs Act, 1938, in respect of a loaf of bread containing foreign matter.
The Magistrates imposed a fine of £5 and ordered the payment of £3. 3. 0. costs.
FOOD AND DRUGS ACT, 1955
FOOD HYGIENE REGULATIONS, 1955
The Act came into operation in November 1955, and the Regulations were
made on the 16th December, 1955.
The Regulations, which will become fully operative on the 1st July, 1956,
extend and replace the provisions contained in the Clean Food Byelaws made
under Section 15 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1938.