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was sent to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. In this return the Council
did not propose to deal with any area as a Clearance Area but 173 houses in the
Borough were considered to be unfit and it was proposed that these should be dealt
with in the period of the following 5 years.
Of the 173 houses the Council has already made 24 Demolition Orders and 19
Closing Orders and accepted undertakings from the owners to make the houses habitable
in three cases.
Eleven families have been rehoused, one house was unoccupied and one family
found their own accommodation.
The remainder of the houses dealt with are still occupied, difficulty being
experienced by the Council in providing alternative accommodation for the occupiers.
HOUSING REPAIRS AND RENTS ACT, 1954.
The year under review was the first full year in which this Act was in operation.
The following figures show the number of applications for Certificates of
Disrepair and Revocation and the action taken during the year.
Certificates of Disrepair.
Number of applications received 70
Number of certificates issued 47
Number of applications refused 13
Number of cases in which the applicant was not
entitled to a certificate or the application
waswithdrawn 10
Number of applications remaining to be dealt
with at the end of 1955 Nil.
Revocations.
Number of applications received 27
Number of certificates of revocation issued 22
Number of applications refused 1
Number of applications remaining to be dealt
with at the end of 1955 4
The number of applications for Certificates of Disrepair is surprisingly low
and it can only be assumed that landlords are not availing themselves of the
opportunity to increase the standard rent, presumably in many cases on account of the
heavy expenditure which would be involved in putting the houses in a state of good
repair.
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