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105
year. Reconstruction was necessary in five cases (involving
connections to 29 houses) and the usual notices for reconstruction
were served and complied with. At the request
of the owners various small repairs to drains were undertaken
at the time of the examination and the total cost of this
(£6 7s. 6d.) was recovered from the owners concerned.
Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Acts,
1920-1923. During the year 13 applications were made by
the occupiers of 12 houses for certificates that the houses
they occupied were not in a reasonable state of repair. In
one case the house was let in two parts and both occupiers
made application. Four certificates were granted; in two
cases the applications were withdrawn before they were
considered by the Public Health Committee, and in seven
cases a report only was ordered to be issued. The Rent
Restrictions (Notices of Increase) Act, 1923, and the Increase
of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, 1923, came
into force during the year, and require that the certificate of
the sanitary authority shall specify what works require to be
executed in order to put the house in a reasonable state of
repair, and one of them provides that it shall be a good defence
to any claim for the payment of rent or arrears that
the house is not in a reasonable state of repair, if the tenant
has served a copy of the certificate on the owner. When an
application is received for a certificate the house is inspected
and notices are served on the owner to remedy the defects
that exist. It is interesting to note that the Act of 1923
differs from the original Act in that a certificate can only
be issued for a house when it is not in a reasonable
state of repair, whereas in the original Act, it could be issued
if a house was not in a reasonable state of repair or was not
in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation.