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procedure do the work of the Housing Act. Great restraint must
therefore be exercised to curb the tendency to inflate the amount of
work which can be properly specified and enforced on a statutory
notice in order to meet the urgent demands made upon us. This
applies particularly to the repair of decayed and outworn properties
which, but for the Council's inability to provide necessary rehousing,
would be dealt with by the Housing Act procedure and
demolished. This situation is exemplified in the increase in the
number of prosecutions instituted against owners for non-compliance
with the requirements of statutory notices and nuisance orders.
Having once obtained a nuisance order from the Court, the local
authority is of course entitled to carry out the works necessary to
abate the nuisance in the owner's default and recover the costs
incurred; but this is a poor substitute for the comparable but more
comprehensive powers under Sections 9 and 10 of the Housing Act,
1936. It is doubtful whether the legislature intended that Public
Health Act procedure should be used to the extent it is being applied
today for the purpose of renovating house property.
PROPERTIES ABANDONED BY OWNERS.
The economic pressure of ownership is shown by the number of
properties now being abandoned by owners ; and such abandonment
is undoubtedly increasing.
Reason for Abandonment.
Houses may be abandoned in a variety of ways, but the reason
for abandonment is more or less always the same. The owner has
reached a point where he can no longer fulfil his statutory obligations
to the local authority or to his tenants, and the method he chooses to
adopt to get rid of his responsibilities depends on the integrity of the
individual owner. For instance, he may simply discontinue to
collect rents from his tenants and fail to pay rates to the local
authority, in which case the Council and the Inland Revenue
Commissioners eventually step in and collect rents to defray arrears
of rates and income tax; or the owner may convey the property to
some illiterate and impecunious person who gladly accepts it,
little knowing what is to follow. On the other hand the owner may
inform the local authority that he cannot afford to maintain his
property in a habitable condition, and request the Council either to
purchase the dwelling house or to take appropriate action under
Housing Act procedure.