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Housing—Repairs
Action to secure the execution of repairs continued as
far as possible and is summarised below.
The standard of unfitness as prescribed in section 9 of
the Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, is, in my opinion,
a lower standard than that previously defined in the 1936
Housing Act. As a consequence one hesitates to advise the
service of notices in respect of houses with comparatively
few defects. When one considers more defective houses the
question of ' reasonable cost' arises and with building costs
at treble or more their pre-war value and rents mostly at
pre-war standards, again one hesitates. In many cases
action under the Public Health Act provides an answer, but
often only a partial answer.
Informal Action
No. of
Houses
No. of unfit or defective houses rendered fit
during the period as a result of informal
action by the local authority 82
Action under Statutory Powers
Number of houses reported to Public Health
Committee with, a view to service of statutory
notices 19
Number of statutory notices served 7
Public Health Acts
Number of houses in which defects were remedied after
service of formal notices : — No. of
Houses
(a) by owners 0
(b) by local authority in default of owners 0