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40
SECTION D.
HOUSING.
Clearance Areas and Individual Unfit Dwellings.
At the end of the year, there were six houses remaining to be
dealt with in proposed Clearance Areas and approximately twenty
individual houses considered to be unfit for occupation.
These will be dealt with by Demolition or Closing Orders in cooperation
with the Housing Department who are responsible for
accommodating the displaced persons.
Rent Act, 1957.
This Act came into force on the 6th July, 1957.
The role of the Health Department in the administration of the
Act is confined almost entirely to the consideration of applications
made by tenants of controlled houses for Certificates of Disrepair.
In broad terms, the possession of this Certificate enables a tenant
to resist the rent increase permitted by the Act and the granting of a
Certificate is justified only where the dwelling is in disrepair by reason
of defects which ought reasonably to be remedied "having due regard
to the age, character and locality of the dwelling".
In recent years very few applications have been received and
it is reasonable to assume that landlords do not now apply the permitted
rent increases without first agreeing with the tenant the question
of necessary repair.
Housing Act, 1961.
This Act extends and amends the principal Act of 1957.
It seems apparent that the raising of the permitted Rent Increase
from 8 per cent to 12j for improvements, as commented upon in my
report for 1961, has not been sufficient inducement to the owners of
tenanted houses to apply for improvement grants when they take into
account the costs of their own contribution and of the essential repairs
which have to be carried out to qualify for the grant.
I think it is generally agreed that a bath, hot water supply and
indoor water closet are necessary to provide a good standard of living
and if this policy of improvement is to be pursued, it may be necessary
for the Government to give compulsory powers to Local Authorities
and at the same time offer all reasonable aid to landlords by way
of grants and loans.