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for a long time, in practice as an Estate Agent, managing
houses in this district, as well as other parts of Essex and
London, and have first-hand knowledge that Notices under the
Statutes mentioned are served in very large numbers by Local
Authorities in respect of houses which are not 'in a dangerous
state, verminous or infected.' If he (the writer of a previous
letter to the paper) wants to get his facts 'straight from the
horse's mouth,' he should ask his local Sanitary Inspector.
In Hackney, where my head office is situated, the Council is
serving a large number of Notices under Section 9 of the Housing
Act, 1936, and these bear the appearance of Schedules of
Dilapidations. If such Notices were served by a freeholder on
a lessee, he would be termed 'harsh and rapacious' and would be
calumnied for trying to enforce tenants to carry out works
against the public interest in view of the shortage of building
labour and materials, and the general need to do essential work
only. Not so when it comes to the Councils ! This Act and the
Public Health Act of the same year (both of which repeal and/or
amend earlier Acts dealing with the same circumstances) are
very extensively operated to a degree which often causes great
hardship to owners, especially when the tenants are dirty and
overcrowd their houses by taking in lodgers against the landlord's
wishes. It is not fair for owners to have to try to pay
for repairs at 1950 prices when they are only getting 1939 rents.
Many tenants realise this and decorate rooms at their own
expense."
Under the present very trying circumstances, a certain degree
of exaggeration by estate agents and owners is pardonable, but far
too many tenants carry out repairs and decorations for reasons other
than love of their landlords and agents, as is suggested in the letter
quoted above. The position of the Public Health Department,
accused on the one hand by owners of persecution, and on the other
hand by tenants of neglect of duty, is also very trying, as is also the
position of persons compelled to live in houses which have reached
such a state of decay that the cost of adequate repair would render
them a costly liability, not an asset.
No one will dispute that there is marked disparity between
rents and building costs, but local authorities, although not responsible
for rent controls, nevertheless have responsibilities for the
housing conditions in their districts, and notwithstanding the
present difficult circumstances cannot remain complacent while
these conditions deteriorate to such an extent as to adversely affect
the reasonable health and comfort of the people. As a result, the
Council have been obliged to carry out a great deal of work that
owners have not been able to undertake and reference to instances in