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by reason repair, stability and condition as to damp the house was unfit
for habitation. The property is a detached house situated at the rear of
Hadley Highstone. After due consideration the Committee decided at
their December meeting to make a Demolition Order.
41 Lancaster Road - The condition of this property was the subject
of a report to the Housing Committee in October. The premises were
stated to be unfit for habitation by reason of repair, stability, condition
as to damp and facilities for the storage of food. The premises consist of
a three storey detached shop with living accommodation. The matter is
still under consideration by the Committee.
RENT ACT, 1957
In the year 1958 twenty-two applications for Certificates of Disrepair
were received and in 13 cases undertakings were received from the landlords
to carry out the works and in the other cases the necessary Certificates
of Disrepair were issued. Under Paragraph 8(2) of the First Schedule
of the Act, six Certificates were issued. This paragraph deals with the
issue of Certificates to landlords or occupiers stating whether or not
work detailed on an undertaking has been carried out in a satisfactory
manner; it is not obligatory on a landlord to apply for such certificate
on completion of works and in fact many do not do so. In three cases
applications from the landlords for the cancellation of Certificates of
Disrepair were made and as no objections were received from the tenants
the Certificates were cancelled.
The amount of use which is made by tenants of the parts of the Rent
Act dealing with Certificates of Disrepair remains surprisingly low. The
number of tenants who could successfully make application for Certificates
is quite high. The reason for the low figure cannot be lack of knowledge
of the existence of these Certificates in view of the publicity that the
Act has been given.
C LEAN AIR
In March of this year the Clerk of the Council and myself submitted a
report to the General Purposes Committee on the procedure for making
Smoke Control Orders under the Clean Air Act, 1956. The Committee
discussed the matter and Clean Air generally at length and as various
neighbouring Councils were considering making Smoke Control Areas,
one of which at least adjoins the East Barnet Urban District, it was decided
to postpone any further consideration until later in the year when accurate
information regarding other Authorities' intentions were known. At the
October meeting of the General Purposes Committee the matter of Smoke
Control Areas was again discussed, further information was available
regarding the intentions of the Southgate Borough Council, who were
considering an Area the western boundary of which is along the East
Barnet Urban District boundary at Cockfosters from the Cock Hotel
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