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who permits the house to be occupied by such a number of persons that it is not
possible to provide for the proper separation of the sexes is made liable to a
fine on summary conviction.
The provisions of section 15 of the Housing Act, 1936, (relating to appeals
against notices served under Part II of that Act and the date on which they
become operative) are applied to notices under this section and the powers of
entry contained in section 157 of the Act of 1936 are made available to local
authorities taking action under this section-
Provision is also made for the withdrawal of a notice and for the subsequent
service of a new notice where circumstances require it.
SECTION 16 (Amendments of Housing Act, 1949) makes certain amendments in the
statutory conditions attached to the payment of improvement grants under Part
II of the Housing Act, 1949, and (together with section 37 of the new Act)
alters the arrangements for fixing the maximum rent of dwellings on which grant
is paid. Under the Act of 1949 a dwelling had to be considered to provide
satisfactory accommodation for at least 30 years in order to attract the grant.
Under the new Act that period is reduced to "more than 15 years", with the
added condition that the Minister or the local authority as the case may beis
satisfied "that it is expedient in all the circumstances that the proposals
or application should be approved".
The section removes altogether the requirement that schemes of improvement
or conversion must not cost more than £800 per dwelling; and provides instead
a maximum grant of half the cost of the work per dwelling or £400, whichever is
the less.
The power is, however, reserved to local authorities with the Minister's
concurrence to pay a higher grant in any case in which they consider the circumstances
justify it. This corresponds to the provision made in section 20 of
the Act of 1949 to pay grant on projects which exceeded the £800 limit of cost,
PART II
(Repairs increase in respect of controlled dwelling-houses
and other amendments of the Rent Acts, etc.)
The following are the sections of this Part of the Act with which the
Public Health Department deals:-
SECTION 23 (Repairs increase for dwelling-house in good repair). Where a
dwelling-house is let under a controlled tenancy or occupied by a statutory
tenant, and the landlord is responsible, wholly or in part, for the repair of
the dwelling-house, then, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, —
(a) if and so long as the following conditions (hereinafter referred to
as "the conditions justifying an increase of rent") are fulfilled,
that is to say—
(i) that the dwelling-house is in GOOD REPAIR; and
(ii) that it is REASONABLY suitable for occupation having regard to
the matters specified in paragraphs (b) to (h) of subsection (1)
of section 9 of this Act; and
(b) if in accordance with the Second Schedule to this Act the landlord
has produced satisfactory evidence that work of repair to the value
specified in that Schedule has been carried out on the dwelling-house
during the period so specified,
the rent recoverable from the tenant shall be increased ...
SECTION 26 (Determination whether conditions fulfilled to justify increase of
rent) provides that on the service of a notice of increase of rent or at any
subsequent time the tenant may apply to the local authority for a certificate
(CERTIFICATE OF DISREPAIR) if either or both "the conditions justifying the
increase of rent" are not fulfilled. If this certificate is granted, and the
tenant has served a copy on the landlord or his agent, then so long as the