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1. be in a good state of repair and substantially
free from damp;
2. have each room properly lighted and ventilated;
3. have an adequate supply of wholesome water laid
on inside the dwelling;
4. be provided with efficient and adequate means
of supplying hot water for domestic purposes;
5. have an internal or otherwise readily accessible
water closet;
6. have a fixed bath (or shower) preferably in a
separate room;
7. be provided with a sink or sinks and with
suitable arrangements for the disposal of waste
water;
8. have a proper drainage system;
9. be provided in each room with adequate points for
gas or electric lighting (where reasonably
available);
10. be provided with adequate facilities for heating;
11. have satisfactory facilities for storing,
preparing and cooking food;
12. have proper provision for the storage of fuel
(where required).
Section 16 of the Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, made
certain amendments in the statutory conditions attached to the
payment of improvement grants under Part II of the Housing Act,
1949, and (together with Section 37 of the new Act) altered the
arrangements for fixing the maximum rent of dwellings on which
grant is paid.
Under the Act of 1949, a dwelling had to be considered to
provide satisfactory accommodation for at least thirty years in
order to attract the grant. Under the 1954 Act that period is
reduced to "more than fifteen years" with the added condition
that the Minister or the local authority - as the case may be
should be satisfied "that it is expedient in all the
circumstances that the proposals or application should be
approved."
Section 16 removes altogether the requirement that schemes
of improvement or conversion must not cost more than £800 per
dwelling; and provides instead a maximum grant of half the
cost of the work per dwelling or £400, whichever is the less.
The power is, however, reserved to local authorities, with
the Minister's concurrence, to pay a higher grant in any case in
which they consider the circumstances justify it.
Section 37 extends the duty of local authorities to fix
maximum rents for grant-aided dwellings within the rateable value
limits of the Rent Acts. They are now required to fix a maximum
rent for all such dwellings, whether let or not, with the
exception of one class, namely, those which have been let for
the first time since 1st September, 1939, and for which a
reasonable rent has been fixed by a rent tribunal tinder the
Landlord and Tenant (Rent Control) Act, 1949. A rent fixed by
a rent tribunal under that Act for a dwelling improved with the
aid of grant may be increased by 8 per cent. of that portion of
the cost of the improvement which is borne by the owner. A
maximum rent fixed by a local authority will become the standard
rent to the exclusion of any existing standard rent.
In fixing the maximum rent the local authority are required
by the section to have regard to "the age of the dwelling, to the
character and condition of the dwelling after the carrying out of
the proposed improvement works and to the cost of those works."