London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Richmond upon Thames 1965
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Richmond upon Thames]
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(3) Certificates of Disrepair
The Rent Act, 1957 entitled owners of controlled rented properties to a prescribed
rent income provided the dwelling is maintained in a reasonable state of repair having
regard to its age, character and locality. The tenant is safeguarded by the Act in that
he may resist the rent increase if the owner fails to carry out necessary repairs. For this
purpose the tenant applies to the local authority for a certificate of disrepair, which
has to be granted if the owner fails to give a satisfactory undertaking to put the house
in a proper state of repair within six months, and with this certificate the tenant is
entitled to make an adjustment to the amount of rent he pays the owner.
The Act seems no longer to be an effective mechanism for ensuring that items of disrepair receive attention, and the following table shows that whereas an average of nearly 100 applications were received annually in the seven years following the intro-duction of the Rent Act, it was almost completely ignored by landlord and tenant last year.
| 1957/63 | 1964 | 1965 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Number of applications for certificates | 668 | 10 | — |
| 2. Number of decisions not to issue certificates | 24 | 1 | — |
| 3. Number of decisions to issue certificates | |||
| (a) in respect of some but not all defects | 520 | 4 | — |
| (b) in respect of all defects | 124 | 5 | — |
| 4. Number of undertakings given by landlords under paragraph 5 of the First Schedule | 415 | 7 | — |
| 5. Number of undertakings refused by Local Authority under proviso to paragraph 5 of the First Schedule | 3 | — | |
| 6. Number of Certificates issued | 232 | 2 | — |
| Applications for Cancellation of Certificates: | |||
| 7. Applications by landlords to Local Authority for cancellation of certificates | 134 | 2 | 2 |
| 8. Objections by tenants to cancellation of certificates | 54 | — | — |
| 9. Decisions by Local Authority to cancel in spite of tenant's objection | 18 | — | — |
| 10. Certificates cancelled by Local Authority | 98 | 2 | 2 |
(4) Medical Priorities
Applications for re-housing, supported by Medical Certificates, are received either
through the Housing Officer or direct from family doctors or Hospital staff.
These applications are divided into three classes —•
A — Urgent priority;
B — Some medical priority in relation to housing needs;
C — No medical priority.
In order to preserve continuity and a uniform standard of judgement, the Deputy
Medical Officer of Health determines the appropriate socio-medical advice on all these
applications.
Every case is thoroughly investigated and applicants may be visited either by the
Health Visitor or the Public Health Inspector as is appropriate.
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