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ECONOMICS OF HOUSE REPAIRS
The Rising Cost.
Every year in this Borough over 2,000 houses are inspected for defects and
well over a 1,000 are found to have dilapidations of varying degrees of severity.
A most important problem facing health departments of local authorities is
how to hold a just balance between the amount of repairs absolutely necessary
and the amount otherwise desirable, having regard to the enormous rise in the
cost of building and repair work.
Let us consider an ordinary small two-storey terrace house having three
bedrooms, two living rooms and a kitchen, and occupied by a man, his wife
and say four children. The house is over 40 years old and has a controlled rent
of 10s. 6d. per week inclusive of rates. Over the years the fabric has deteriorated
so that now the house needs extensive repairs. It has had a succession of tenants
some of whom have treated it badly. A typical list of defects would include a
defective roof, perished pointing to the walls and chimney stack, defective
eaves-gutters and rainwater pipes; a defective damp-proof course causing
rising dampness inside the house; patches of perished wall plaster and defective
ceiling plaster; defective window sashes and beading, broken floor boards and
rotting floor joists; a broken sink and a broken firegrate; the whole house
would need to be painted and decorated; outside there would be a defective
W.C. cistern, the branch drain would need to be renewed and the yard paved.
The detailed specification of works required to make such a house fit
might well show the cost to be about £270. The income from the property might
be set out in a table as follows:—
£ s. d.
Gross annual rent at 10s. 6d. per week 27 6 0
Deductions or outgoings paid by owner:— £ s. d.
Rates inclusive 7 16 0
Collection of rent and management —5% of
gross rental 1 7 4
Contingencies, insurance, voids, etc., —5%
of gross rental 1 7 4
Repairs and maintenance —25% of net rent 4 3 10
14 14 6
Net annual income £12 11 6
£12 l1s. 6d. is the interest at 5% from the investment of a capital sum of £252.
£12 l1s. 6d. is the interest at 6% from the investment of a capital sum of £210.
£12 l1s. 6d. is the interest at 7% from the investment of a capital sum of £180.
If this house were properly repaired it might be expected to last another
15 or 20 years before any further major repairs were needed. As the house is
over 40 years old, the present owner is not likely to be the same person who
originally built or acquired the property. He may have inherited it, or bought
it many years ago. Whatever benefit the original owner had during the years
when the house was new has now long since gone, and so is of no comfort to the
present owner because his capital asset is worn out and he is saddled with a
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