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33
Of the 165 houses inspected, action was necessary in respect of
162, for which informal notices were served. These were followed
in 53 instances by the service of formal notices and, in addition,
44 formal notices were served in respect of houses inspected in 1950,
making a total of 97 formal notices served during the year.
The number of houses made fit during the year was 256, 123
as a result of informal action and 133 as a result of formal action.
In 37 instances the Council carried out the work in the owners'
default at a total cost of £4,652 7s. 7d. Details of the houses
concerned are given on page 32.
Since inspections under Section 9 of the Housing Act, 1936,
were recommenced on the 5th September, 1949, a total of 667
houses have been inspected, of which 664 required action to be
taken. The number of houses made fit totals 464, of which 279
were made fit as a result of informal action and 185 following the
service of formal notices. At the end of 1951, 200 notices were
outstanding—92 formal and 108 informal. In 49 instances the
Council have carried out work in default of the owners at a total
cost of £6,433 4s. 5d., and at the end of 1951 work was being carried
out in default at a further 13 houses at an estimated cost of
£1,878 14s. 2d.
A pleasing feature of the work under this section of the Housing
Act has been the extent to which owners of properties have cooperated
with the department, for although in many cases the
schedules of work required have been very extensive, 279 houses
have been made fit without recourse to formal action. In many
cases where formal action has been taken, such a course has been
necessary only because the agents have had no power to carry out
work except on the service of a notice, or because although the owners
were willing to carry out the repairs their financial position prohibited
them from doing so and the service of a formal notice has
been a necessary preliminary to the Council carrying out the work
on the owners' behalf.
Of the 277 formal notices served, only 10 were the subjects
of appeals to the County Court, and in 8 instances the appeals
were withdrawn and the Council's costs paid. No appeals were
lodged against the notices served during 1951.
With regard to the two appeals—both by the same owner—
which eventually reached the courts, in the first case the grounds
of appeal were that the premises had been war-damaged and it was
necessary to rebuild the rear main wall; that five months and not
the six weeks allowed in the notice were necessary to carry out the
work; and that the provision of an additional water supply to the
upper floors should not be enforced. Although the rear wall was not
a dangerous structure the appellant brought corroborative evidence