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103
I forwarded this letter on December 8th to the Property Owners' Association,
stating: “ Would it not be better for your clients to put their premises into
decent repair and avoid all this correspondence, which must be as annoying to
you as it is to me.”
I received, on the 12th December, the following letter from the tenant:—
“ Since writing you, the builder has put a patch of plaster in the ceiling
in the off room where the rain continued coming through; they have also
put a square piece of paper over the ceiling in the top back room where the
rain came in. They have not been on the roof since the rain came in. This
is all that has been done since you was here. They are ordered to-day by
the Inspectors to do the kitchen on Monday morning next, the 17th, at 9.30,
which will be ready for them if they come. I thought I would let you know
how they have left it. The work to stop the rain from coming into the rooms
was ordered last March, and never has been done.”
On the 19th I received a request from the owner to grant a Completion of
Work Certificate, to which I replied on the 19th that the Inspector was not satisfied
with the work, particularly as regards the roof, but as soon as the work had
been satisfactorily completed a certificate would be issued.
On the 21st December the Surveyor to the Property Owners' Association
wrote stating that he had inspected these premises, and requesting me to report
by return of post or let him know in what respect I was dissatisfied with the work
carried out as a result of the certificate issued to the tenant. I sent this down
for the Inspector's report, which was deferred to see whether the roof was in a
condition to stand a heavy rain.
It is interesting to note that at the time of the Surveyor's visit there had
been practically no rain of any consequence since the workmen left the premises,
and that a heavy rain only occurred on the 27th. The Sanitary Inspector visited
on the 29th, but could not gain admission to the top rooms, and I received on the
2nd January another request for a report, to which I replied that as soon as the
premises were in a satisfactory condition I would report to the sanitary authority.
In reply to this I received a letter dated January 3rd, stating that I had been
guilty of " sheer vindictiveness,“ and that the matter would be taken " personally
to the Minister of Health.”
According to a statement made by the tenant and her lodger yesterday,
January 11th, to the District Inspector and Mr. Bew, another sanitary Inspector,
who visited to see the result of the recent rains, workmen were at work on
January lsf, patching the roof as the result of leaking that occurred during the
rain on the 27th December, after the visit of the Surveyor of the Property
Owners' Association, and that the letter from the Surveyor, of the 21st, was
written while the roof was still in a leaky state. The letter of the Surveyor of
January 3rd, an insulting letter, was written before the Surveyor could have
known that the “ botching ” was temporarily successful. The District Inspector
now reports that the roof appears to be sound, for the time being, and I can
recommend the granting of a Completion of Work Certificate under the Rent
Restrictions Act.
It will be apparent, from the correspondence, that throughout these proceedings:—
1. The Property Owners' Association did not endeavour to have these
premises put into a satisfactory condition at any time.
2. The Association requested a Completion of Work Certificate while, in
fact, the workmen were in the house, and on several occasions before the
work had been performed.
GI