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37
(iv) Number of cases in which dwelling
houses have again become overcrowded
after the local authority have taken
steps for the abatement of overcrowding
Nil
NOTE: Units means the number of equivalent persons
in the families obtained by regarding children
between 1 and 10 years of age as "half-persons"
and disregarding infants under the age of 12
months.
Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954
Certificates of Disrepair
The Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, which came into
operation on 30th August, 1954, altered the legislation relating
to the Council's duty to issue certificates of disrepair in
respect of dwelling houses, not fit for habitation, subject to
the Rent and Mortgage Interest Restrictions Acts. Under Part II
of the Act, the Council are required to deal with any application
from a tenant for a certificate of disrepair where the landlord
has claimed a repairs increase in rent, and the tenant feels that
the house is not in sufficiently good condition to justify it.
Further, the new provisions replace those (under the Rents Acts,
1920-39), relating to the 40 per cent. increase of rent permitted
under the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions)
Act, 1920. Thus in particular, if a tenant, not subject to a
repairs increase under the 1954 Act, applies to the Council for
a certificate of disrepair under the 1920 Act, they must adopt
the same criteria regarding the condition of the house as they
must under the 1954 Act.
A certificate of disrepair must be in the form prescribed by
the Minister of Housing and Local Government and must specify
the defects in respect of which it is issued. This is to make
it easier for the landlord to determine what work of repair
must be carried out to the house in order to secure the revocation
of the certificate.
The Council have decided that each application for a
certificate, or for the revocation of a certificate, must be
accompanied by a fee of one shilling.