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44
HOUSING
Housing Act, 1957
Clearance Areas.—Ninety-three houses were represented under
Section 157 of the Housing Act, 1957 ; 44 houses were demolished
following declaration of Clearance Areas under Section 42 and
a further 58 following compulsory acquisition under Section 43 (2).
Closing Orders.—Under Section 157 of the Act, 13 individual
houses, one part of a house and 13 basements were represented for
closure; six Closing Orders were made under Section 17(1) and
six Closing Orders under Section 18.
Under Section 27, Closing Orders were determined in respect of
two houses and two basements and permission was given for three
houses subject to Closing Orders to be used for storage purposes.
Housing Act, 1961
Houses in multiple occupation
Out of an estimated total of 12,000 houses in multiple occupation,
7,204 have now been fully inspected, 2,735 houses having been
visited this year for the first time. An analysis of the register shows
the occupation of the 7,204 houses to be as follows:—
Occupancies: 2 3 4 5 6 78910+
No. of houses: 4,296 1,434 656 329 192 125 75 47 50
The general practice is to try to get properties in multiple occupation
brought up to a standard acceptable to the Corporation by
informal action. Although a considerable amount of work has been
carried out by some owners voluntarily, others have not been so
co-operative ; consequently it has been necessary to serve 11 notices
under Section 16 of the Housing Act, 1961, requiring the provision
of means of escape from fire, and five 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 198 houses being brought up to
standard. In addition, in 350 instances, owners who had received
either formal or informal notification that work was required
reduced the number of lettings in their premises and in the circumstances
no further action was taken.
In continuation of our efforts to limit the number of tenants in
over-occupied premises which do not comply with the required
standards, 19 Notices of Intention were served giving notice of the