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owner holds the promises, so far as such person can
after reasonable enquiries be ascertained and if the
owner or any other person having any estate or
interest in the premises when requested by the
local authority to state the name and address of
the person from whom he holds refuses or wilfully
omits to disclose or misstates the same he shall
be liable on summary conviction to a fine not
exceeding £5.
(ii.) To add after paragraph (c)-
The local authority shall for the recovery of their
expenses with interest have all the same powers
and remedies under the Conveyancing Acts, 1881
to 1911 and otherwise as if they were the mortgagees
having powers of sale and lease of accepting
surrenders of leases and of appointing a
receiver.
The Standing Joint Committee decided to support these amendments
and they were eventually embodied with modifications in the
Amended Housing (No. 2) Bill as the Housing Act, 1923.
The main effects of the first Amendment will be (1) by notifying
those holding superior interests in the property to enable them to
make use of their powers under Sec. 30 of the 1919 Act, to protect
their interests, and (2) the local authority can often secure by such
warning notice to the superior owner or owners the execution of the
necessary repairs.
The second Amendment is designed to place the local authority
in regard to the recovery of expenditure in a similar position as
mortgagees under the Conveyancing Acts with powers of sale of
lease, of accepting surrenders of leases and of appointing a Receiver
for the receiving of the expenses incurred by them including any
expenditure under Sec. 28.
These Amendments are an improvement, and may serve to
simplify procedure under Sec. 28.
The work carried out under Sec. 28 during 1923 compares
favourably with that of the past four years and the details will be
found summarised at the end of this report. The repair of unfit
houses is the most satisfactory feature of the Council's Housing
work. A considerably higher standard of repair has been
obtainable under the powers conferred under Sec. 28, and while
it has not been possible to abate overcrowding, many of the
ill-effects of the congestion arising from the housing shortage
have been, to some extent at least, mitigated by the improved
state of fitness for habitation systematically enforced under the
Housing and Public Health Acts.