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107
CERTIFICATES OF DISREPAIR
RENT ACT, 1957
Seventeen applications were received during 1966 from tenants of
property for a Certificate of Disrepair and five Certificates were issued.
Four Certificates that had been granted were cancelled and in eleven cases
undertakings were accepted from the owners agreeing to carry out the
repairs required.
Comparatively few tenants take advantage of the provisions of the
Rent Act, 1957 and it is felt the reason is twofold:—
(a) The standard at which the majority of property owners maintain
their property, and
(b) The difficulty many tenants have in understanding the rather
complex provisions of the Act and the forms involved.
SUPERVISION OF OTHER PREMISES
During the course of the year routine visits were made by the Public
Health Inspectors to shops, factories, licensed premises, to places of public
entertainment, to riding establishments ana to many other centres of
employment. These visits enabled helpful advice to be given on many of
the facets of the work of the department and at the same time ensured
that the standards being maintained were satisfactory.
Today the majority of owners are only too anxious to co-operate and
to improve standards of hygiene and working conditions generally,
and the routine inspections that are made are more often than not
welcomed by those in control of the premises concerned. If unsatisfactory
conditions are found, immediate action is generally taken and seldom is it
necessary to resort to more formal measures involving the service of
statutory notices.
As regards environmental hygiene, the major problems remaining
unsolved concerns the rubbish that is deposited in out of the way corners or
allowed to accumulate in yards and in accommodation roads. Even more
disturbing is the material that is dumped on undeveloped sites and in
hedgerows. Unfortunately, this is a problem to which there is no simple
solution and even the current desirable hygienic practice of enclosing all
articles in wrappings of one kind or another militate against tidy conditions,
for it means more waste has to be disposed of. Then again, the costs
involved in disposing of waste are considerable, even if there is a readily
available outlet for the proper disposal of waste matter.
Reference has been made to the problems associated with rubbish and
dumping in the Annual Reports for 1963, 1964 and 1965, but they remain.
There are, however, signs that the general public are becoming more
conscious of the existence of this problem and of its attendant dangers
and this may well mean that more positive action will be taken in the
future.