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32
To use a bedroom for a living-room and a bedroom stove for cooking purposes
is to rapidly dirty and deteriorate the one and to burn out the other; increased
traffic along passages increases dilapidations. Landlords are not anxious to
carry out repairs due to this increased wear and tear, especially if the tenant,
owing to the number of lodgers, is living rent free.
Unfortunately, it is sometimes the neglectful tenant who has the most
complaints to make.
The Sanitary Inspector has to exercise great discretion when asking the
landlord to undertake repairs or make good dilapidations. A useful guide is
to ascertain when the landlord put the room or premises into order last; it is
then possible to form some idea of the manner in which the tenant has used
the house.
The majority of defects have been remedied either under Section 94 of the
1875 Act or Section 36 of the same Act (as regards dustbins), or Section 28 of
the 1919 Housing Act and its successor, Section 3 of the 1925 Housing Act.
Details are given in the preceeding paragraph dealing with Housing
statistics, which also give the number of cases in which the Council carried out
the work in default of the owner, as provided for under the Housing Acts.
The only difficulty found in remedying unfitness was under the Housing
Acts. The owner appealed to the Ministry, who asked for a deposit of £5 from
the owner before hearing the appeal; this has not been done, consequently the
appeal has not been heard, and the local Authority are apparently helpless.
At the time of writing, it is just on 12 months since the inspection of the
property was first made. If all property owners adopted the same procedure,
the Housing Act of 1925 would be a dead letter.
During the past year, special attention has been paid to the water supply.
In many cases it is off the rising main, but if direct from a cistern, then special
regard is paid to its accessibility for cleansing and as to whether it is properly
covered.
The Amendment Act of 1907 adds to the Statutory Nuisances any cistern
so placed, constructed or kept as to render the water therein liable to
contamination likely to cause risk to health.
During the year there were five cases in which the cistern was regarded
as so "placed," and the drinking water has been taken off the main.