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Demolition Orders
A Demolition Order made on 25, Crouch Hall Road on 11th February
1955 was not enforced owing to difficulties with regard to the responsibility
for the rendering of the party walls of the adjoining premises.
The Middlesex County Council Act, 1956, provided in Section 37 that
exposed party walls should be made weatherproof by the person on
behalf of whom the demolition is carried out. This clarification of the
position enabled the Council to press the owner to carry out the demolition,
and the premises were demolished in November 1957.
Demolition following Closing Order
A Closing Order was made on 19, Haringey Road on 17th December
1950. During 1957 the house was demolished and a new house has
been built on the site.
CERTIFICATES OF DISREPAIR
The Rent Act, 1957, came into force on the 6th July, 1957, and introduced
a much more involved procedure for obtaining a certificate of
disrepair. The Act also changed the standard which can be required,
as only defects of repair can be considered. These must be limited to
those which can reasonably be remedied having regard to the age,
character and locality of the premises.
The new procedure is initiated by the tenant, who must serve a notice
of the defects on the landlord. The landlord then has six weeks in which
he can either do the work or give an undertaking that it will be done.
If he does neither the tenant can then apply to the Council for a certificate
of disrepair.
The fact that the tenant must draw up his own list of defects is far
from satisfactory from the point of view of the Health Department.
Only the tenant's items can be included in the certificate of disrepair,
and defects which the Public Health Inspector may find during his
inspection cannot be included if the tenant has omitted to include them,
possibly through lack of technical knowledge. Difficulty is also caused
by the use of vague or ambiguous terms by tenants. The Inspector uses
his discretion in putting a precise description to such terms, but this is
sometimes a difficult matter since nothing of substance must be added
to the tenant's list.
After the inspection has been carried out a further opportunity is given
to the landlord to undertake to remedy the defects. The following figures
show that in nearly half of the cases the landlords did this, certificates
of disrepair being issued in the remaining cases.
The Council has power to refuse to accept an undertaking in certain
cases. These are (a) where a certificate of disrepair has previously been
issued in respect of the premises; or (b) the landlord is liable to repay
expenses to the Council under Section 10 of the Housing Act, 1957, in
respect of the repair of the dwelling. (This situation can arise when a
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