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55
weeks' notice of their intention. If in those three weeks the owner has
not given an undertaking to the tenant to do the work within six months,
the authority issues a certificate of disrepair. On receiving this, the
tenant is entitled to withhold the rent increase. The landlord can claim
on certain grounds that the certificate ought not to have been issued; this
is a matter for the county court to decide. The tenant has a similar right
of appeal against the authority's refusal to issue a certificate. The
authority cancels the certificate when the work has been done; the tenant
has a right of appeal against this, too.
The Act is essentially one for the tenant and the landlord, and local
authorities and their staff are not involved in most cases. Even the
original list of defects is prepared by the tenant. This has disadvantages
in that many do not appreciate what they are entitled to ask to have
done, while a lack of definition creates difficulties when the authority has
in turn to transcribe an item in the list as something which can be set out
in the notice which the authority serves on the owner before issuing a
certificate of disrepair. A special problem facing the Inspectors is whether
or not to be satisfied that work which has been done does remedy a defect.
What the Act is achieving in this district is difficult to determine.
Most of the applications for certificates of disrepair have come from the
tenants of flats built in the 1930's, properties which are well designed and
have been provided with all amenities. On the other hand, no applications
have been received in respect of the older houses in South Harrow,
Stanmore and in Edgware, and only the occasional one in respect of
houses in Wealdstone. The Act, then, has not been used to bring about
a general improvement in these older types of properties. On the other
hand, many owners have carried out repairs and improvements without
there having been any question of the issue of a certificate of disrepair.
About these the authority would not know.
The procedure in this district is that the tenant is asked to supply
with his application for a certificate of disrepair a copy of the form G
notice and also the notice of rent increase. These are dealt with by the
Town Clerk, and the case is referred to the Public Health Department
'i the rent increase demand is in order. By the end of the year 278
applications had been received by the department.
The following is a summary of the cases considered by the Committee:
Number of Applications considered and Committee approval
given for service of notice to landlord of proposal to issue
a Certificate of Disrepair 184
Number of applications cancelled, withdrawn or deferred 5
Number of applications considered by Committee and further
action not approved 3
Number of Undertakings by landlords to remedy defects
proposed to be included in Certificate of Disrepair 37
Overcrowding
The annual review of the state of overcrowding in the district shows
at once more there has been an improvement. As compared with the
cases known on January 1st, the number on December 31st was only