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Housing Repairs and Rents Act 1954.
On 30th August, the Housing Repairs and Rents Act 1954,
was brought into operation to make further provision for the
clearance and re'development of areas of unfit housing accommodation,
and for securing or promoting the reconditioning and
maintenance of houses; and otherwise to amend the enactments
relating to housing, the excersise of certain powers relating to land,
and rent control.
Under Section 1 of the Act, the Council is required within
one year after the commencement of the Act, i.e. by 30th August,
1955, to submit to the Minister of Housing and Local Government
proposals for dealing with houses in the Borough which appear
to the Council to be unfit for habitation.
In June, 1954, in anticipation of the Act coming into operation,
I submitted a preliminary report to the Public Health Committee,
outlining the position in regard to unfit houses so far as
Southgate is concerned. To ascertain information for this Report,
a preliminary survey of the Borough was carried out. The number
of unfit houses could not be assessed at all accurately at this stage,
however, owing to a fact, known at the time, that a new standard
of fitness by which houses had to be judged, was to be included in
the provisions of the new Act. As soon, however, as the Act
came into operation, a more detailed survey was undertaken to
determine the number of houses unfit by the new standard, in
order to provide the Council with the information necessary on
which to formulate proposals for dealing with the unfit houses, for
submission to the Minister in 1955. This survey was in progress
at the close of 1954. A full report on the matter will, therefore, be
included in my Annual Report for 1955.
Recognising that the work in relation to housing generally
will inevitably increase as a result of the passing of the new Act,
and, in addition, for other reasons outlined in a report I submitted
to the Public Health Committee in July, 1954 (which will be
found in Appendix 3 of this Report) regarding the need for an
additional Sanitary Inspector, the Committee recommended the
Council to make such an appointment. Towards the close of 1954,
the Council advertised the appointment and an additional Sanitary
Inspector was appointed early in 1955. The addition of another
Inspector has already been of tremendous assistance in the work
of the Department.
Increase of Rent Certificates.
From 30th August, 1954, the date of the passing of the Housing
Repairs and Rents Act, 1954 until 31st December, 1954, twenty-one
applications were received from tenants for Certificates of Disrepair
following Notices from their landlords concerning increases
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