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46
Position of outstanding Certificates under the Housing Repairs and
Rents Act, 1954.
These certificates, so far only as they relate to defects of
repair have the same effect as if issued under the 1957 Act.
During 1957 there were 248 applications for Certificates of
Disrepair. It was found that the majority of the applications
were justified and in many cases the owners submitted undertakings
to remedy the defects within six months upon being notified of the
Council's intention to issue Certificates of Disrepair. In 74
cases Certificates of Disrepair were issued where the owners failed
to give such undertakings There were 12 applications for
Cancellation of outstanding certificates seven of which were
issued under the 1954 Act The application was granted in each
case
Administration
It has been found that the procedure under the new Act
involves the department in considerably more work than that of the
previous Rent Act. Much difficulty has been experienced in
interpreting the terms used by the tenants on their original
notices to the landlord which form the basis of all subsequent
action. The surveying of property and preparation of schedules
of defects is essentially a matter for a qualified technical
officer but it has rarely been found that the tenants have been
able to employ a surveyor to act on their behalf with the result
that notices they prepared are often indefinite and ambiguous
As far as possible the items listed by the tenants are interpreted
by the department's officers when they make their survey and more
concise terminology is used in subsequent notices
The following sets out the number of applications for certiflcates
of disrepair and the number of applications for cancellation
of certificates.
Applications for Certificates of Disrepair
(1) Number of applications for certificates under Rent 248
Act, 1957.
(2) Number of decisions not to issue certificates 2
(3) Number of decisions to issue certificates 246
(a) in respect of some but not all defects 117
129
(b) in respect of all defects