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-41-
HOUSING ACT. 1961
The main provisions of this Act are:-
Re-arrangement of Exchequer subsidies for the provision of
housing accommodation.
Further control by local authorities of houses in multiple
occupation.
Re-conditioning of condemned houses.
Greater rent increases in respect of improvements.
Repairs to dwelling houses with short leases.
Amendment as to town development.
Exchequer subsidies for new housing accommodation will depend
upon the financial needs of the local authorities and are
no longer only in respect of housing of persons displaced from
Slum Clearance.
A local authority being satisfied that unfit houses and
buildings, parts of which are dwellings, included in clearance
areas have been or will be made fit for human habitation, may
subsequently exclude the houses subject to the Minister's confirmation.
In deciding the standard of repair for which the landlord
is responsible, regard must be had to the age, character and prospective
life of the dwelling and the locality in which it is
situated.
The Minister indicated in his Circular that further circulars
would be issued relating to conditions in multi-occupied
houses and the policy on improvement grants together with practice
notes for the guidance of local authorities.
The Minister's Regulations and the further circulars are
anxiously awaited. Until they are available, little useful progress
can be made regarding the houses in multiple occupation.