View report page

14
Section 28 of the Housing Acts, 1919.
The Public Health Committee, at its Meeting held on January
27th, 1920, approved the proposal to serve all Notices in future
under Section 28 of the Housing and Town Flanning Act, 1919.
where such Section was applicable. As it was considered probable
that such a course would entail a considerable amount of work
in the Surveyor's Department (the Council being empowered in
default of compliance with the Notices to have the work carried
out), the Works Committee was informed of the matter and asked
to prepare itself to carry out the works as expeditiously as possible.
The first Notices under this Section were served in February,
and to the 31st December totalled 621. In 528 cases the owners
carried out the necessary work, but in 93 cases the Council did so
in default, the total cost of which amounted to £4,820.
The procedure in serving the Notices is as follows:—
After the inspection of the premises has been made, the
details are recorded on a specially prepared form. These forms
are submitted to the Committee at each meeting, and authority
obtained for the service of the Notice. The Notices are then typed
out, specifying in detail what is required to remedy the defects,
and four carbon copies are made. The Notices, after being signed
by the Clerk, are served by hand upon the premises, addressed to
"The Owner, c/o the Occupier," and at the same time a letter is
sent to the person believed to be the owner, informing him of such
service, together with one of the carbon copies above mentioned.
A carbon copy is also attached to the office record form, and the
other two are kept in reserve to send to the Surveyor in the event
of the Owner failing to carry out the work. One of these copies
the Surveyor retains for office use, and the other is handed to the
Works' Foreman for the purpose of carrying out the work. This
saves the Surveyor a considerable amount of typing in his department.
In no instance has the Council received notice of appeal.
The proviso in the Section refers only to cases where, in the opinion
of the landlord, the works required to be carried out by the Council
involve the reconstruction of the house.
In many of the houses the number of defects found were very
numerous and extensive, such, for instance, as the absence of
efficient damp-proof courses and the defective and insanitary floors,
due to the absence of concrete over the site and the inefficiently
ventilated space under the wooden floors. In one or two. cases
of defective roofs, it was found impossible to satisfactorily remedy
the defects other than by completely stripping the roofs and reslating,
and in the case of flats zinc roofs where the zinc had perished,
it was necessary to cover the roofs with one of the approved preparations,
such as "Ruberoid."