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The Public Health Department, therefore, had every possible
difficulty to meet in enforcing compliance with sanitary notices,
and it is not surprising that so many sanitary inspectors obtained
appointments elsewhere, and this was particularly unfortunate at
a time when the complaints had reached treble the pre-war number.
Further references to difficulties of the years during and following
the war have appeared in my Annual Reports for the years
1948 and 1949, in which I dealt with them at some length, and are
of too recent a date to require reproduction here.
On all sides the Public Health Department experienced frustration,
whilst even those owners willing to co-operate with the
department found that they could not obtain builders or materials,
and that the cost of executing necessary repairs was out of all
proportion to the income from the properties. Unfortunately for
the department some owners have taken advantage of these shortages
and economic conditions, and have carried out work to their premises
only when compelled to do so by the department's exercise of its
powers under the various Acts.
The last two years have brought some improvement in the
position with regard to the shortages of building materials and
labour, although it is still far from satisfactory; also the staffing
difficulties to which I referred in these Annual Reports have been
overcome to a large extent, but the economic aspect of the high
cost of repairs in relation to rents continues to place heavy burdens
upon owners of property, and is reflected in the difficulties which
continue to be experienced in securing compliance with sanitary
notices. In 1949 the record number of 252 summonses had to be
taken out.
In some instances owners cannot be traced, having either
died or simply forsaken their property which had ceased to be an
asset and had, in fact, become a heavy financial liability. The
tenants are thus left with the responsibility for rates and taxes and
the necessary repairs. Several such cases have come to light during
the past year or so, and it has been necessary for the Council either
to obtain a Magistrate's Order, carry out the work, and recover the
cost by collecting the balance of rent after the usual charges have
been met, or to take action under Section 9 of the Housing Act,
1936. With the present high cost of building repairs this latter
course presents many difficulties because of the legal requirement
that the cost of making a house fit shall be reasonable in relation
to the value of the house after it has been made fit. This problem
was referred to at some length in my Annual Report for 1949.
It would leave an entirely wrong impression if I did not point
out that it is only a minority of owners and agents who cause the
difficulties to which reference has been made, for, although these
difficulties have increased since the war it is mainly because of