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59
the owners 21 days to do the necessary work. The notices were not complied
with, in regard to 10 houses, and the houses were rendered fit for habitation
by the Council's workmen in default of the owners.
If a District Surveyor considers a part of the wall of a house to be in a
dangerous condition he serves a notice on the owner. If the notice is not
complied with, he serves another notice and has the wall demolished. The
District Surveyor has no power to order re-instatement, and the matter becomes
one for the Sanitary Authority to deal with. A notice is then served under Section
28 of the Housing and Town Planning Act, and if the owner does not comply
with it, a further notice is served that at the end of 21 days the Council's
workmen will do the necessary work, if it is not done by the owner. It
therefore follows that even if the Council is prepared to do the work it must
take several months before the work can be completed by the Council. In
the meantime one of the walls is down and the occupiers are exposed to the
inclemency of the weather. This is not all; the owner can appeal to the
Ministry of Health to have the house closed as unfit for human habitation
as the repairs cannot be executed without re-construction. The rebuilding
of the demolished wall is considered to be reconstruction. Many owners
have taken .advantage of this clause which has resulted in a number of empty
houses in the Borough. This could be avoided if the District Surveyor could
have the houses secured instead of demolished. Where there is imminent
danger and necessity of demolition without delay, the District Surveyor should
have the consequent power of compelling re-instatement when .such is essential.
SUGGESTIONS WITH REGARD TO AMENDING THE PUBLIC
HEALTH AND HOUSING ACTS.
(1) In Section 28 of the Housing and Town Planning Act, 1919 the words
"reasonably fit for habitation" should be followed by the words ''or
in a reasonable state of repair."
(2) When a notice is served under the preceding Section (Sec. 28), there
should be a provision for an appeal to a Court of Summary Jurisdiction
before the work is commenced by the Local Authority. As it stands
at present, the Local Authority has to do the work and then apply to
the Court for an order to recover the expenses incurred. The Court
may decide that all the work done by the Local Authority was not
necessary, and refuse to allow the expenses so incurred. The defaulting
owner will then have his property improved to that extent, at the
expense of the ratepayers. This course is the one adopted under the
Public Health Act.