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I would say immediately that the Public Health Department is not concerned
in helping a landlord to.put up rent, nor in assisting tenants to avoid such
increase The Department is interested purely and simply in securing improvements
in property so that it is fit for human habitation and will provide homes in
which adults and children can live in a healthy manner.
From a health point of view, success is measured not so much by the number
of Certificates issued as by those which have been revoked, that is, houses
where repairs have been carried out to meet the requirements of the Certificate.
The following diagram shows the number of Certificates applied for each
month, and the number revoked.
Note A Certificate issued B Certificate revoked
Of these 285 applications; certificates were refused in three cases.
The number of Certificates revoked is small, but it must be remembered that
in a large number of instances there has not been sufficient time for the
necessary work to be carried out, and, in fact, in the month of May there were
more Certificates revoked than in any previous three months put together.
It must not be thought that a landlord can refuse entirely to remedy the
defects set out on a Certificate of Disrepair, provided he does not increase
the rent If any defect constitutes a statutory nuisance within the meaning of
the Public Health (London) Act, 1936 or renders the house unfit for human
habitation within the meaning of the Housing Act, 1936, the normal procedure of
the Public Health Department operates to remedy such defects as are considered
dangerous and injurious to health.
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