View report page

(2) Number of separate tenements or underground rooms
in respect of which Closing Orders were determined,
the tenement or room having been rendered fit Nil
(e) Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1953:—
(1) Closing Orders made under Section 10(1) 2
4. Housing Act, 1936, Part IV—Overcrowding:—
(a) (1) Number of dwelling houses overcrowded at end of year 4
(2) Number of families dwelling therein 4
(3) Number of persons dwelling therein 14
(b) Number of new cases of overcrowding reported during the
year 3
(c) (1) Number of cases of overcrowding relieved during the
year 7
(2) Number of persons concerned in such cases 31
(d) Particulars of any cases in which dwelling houses have again
become overcrowded after the Local Authority has taken
steps for the abatement of overcrowding Nil
Number of New Houses Erected during the Year:—
By the Local Authority 83
By other persons 461
It will be noted that there was an appreciable increase in the
number of dwellings inspected for housing defects and this reflects
the coming into force of the Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954
on the 30th August. This Act makes further provision for the
clearance and re-development of areas of unfit housing accommodation,
and for securing or promoting the reconditioning and
maintenance of houses, besides amending the enactments relating
to housing, the exercise of certain powers relating to land, and
rent control.
An important provision in the Act is that requiring Local
Authorities to submit to the Minister of Housing and Local
Government within one year, proposals for dealing with houses
within their Districts which appear to them to be unfit for human
habitation, and with any other houses which are or in their opinion
ought to be included in clearance areas. This has necessitated a
general survey throughout the District of houses to which the
provision might apply.
The Chief Sanitary Inspector writes that "Although it is early
yet to comment on the effect of the "rent increase" provisions of
the Act, which were introduced with the well intentioned object
of encouraging owners to keep property in good repair, there
is increasing evidence that the possibility of a Certificate of Disrepair
being issued on a house is having a restraining effect on
owners of that type of property in most need of attention. This
factor is bound up with the post-war problem of cost of repairs
34