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34
HOUSING
Housing Act, 1957
Clearance Areas.—Thirty-nine houses were represented under
Section 157 of the Housing Act, 1957, forty-seven houses were
demolished following action under Section 42, and 223 houses
were demolished following action under Section 43 (2).
Closing Orders.—Under Section 157 of the Act, five houses and
seven parts of houses were represented for closure, five Closing
Orders were made under Section 17 (1) and eight Closing Orders
were made under Section 18. One undertaking to close a house
was received under Section 16 (4).
Under Section 27, Closing Orders were determined in respect
of three houses and four parts of houses.
Housing Act, 1961
Houses in multiple occupation
The total number of premises known to be in multiple occupation
and inspected is 3,255, shown by the following table:—
Occupancies: 2 3 4 5 6 78910+
No. of houses: 1,581 851 375 172 115 65 45 25 26
It is estimated that there are roughly another 7,000 properties
to be inspected, and whilst a very great deal of work has been
carried out during the past year, the initial inspections have
decreased owing to the greater number of revisits necessary to properties
on which notices have been served.
The general practice is to try and get properties in multiple
occupation brought up to a standard acceptable to the Corporation
by informal action, and although a considerable amount of work
has been carried out by some owners voluntarily, others have not
been so co-operative, and consequently it has been necessary to
serve 62 notices under Section 16 of the Housing Act, 1961,
requiring the provision of means of escape from fire, and 34
notices under Section 15 of the Act requiring additional facilities
within the premises. Where owners do not comply with these
notices, the work is carried out in default, and during the past year
this was necessary on three occasions.
The work carried out by owners, both voluntarily and following
the service of notices, resulted in one hundred and forty-seven
houses being brought up to standard