View report page

22
the local authority must serve a copy of the suspended notice together
with a final notice requiring the person in control to carry out the
specified works within 12 months. Landlords etc. are required to notify
the local authority of any change of tenant of a property in respect of
which a suspended notice has taken effect. Failure to do so is an
offence carrying a penalty of a fine of £100.
A suspended notice remains in suspense for up to 5 years. At the
end of this period the local authority are free to enforce the notice if
alternative accommodation is made available to the tenant(s).
A tenant of a house outside an Improvement Area may ask the local
authority to improve his house to the full or reduced standard and local
authorities can improve dwellings and tenement blocks outside such areas
to the full or reduced standard. The procedure is similar to that for
for houses in an Improvement Area, save that the notice cannot be suspended.
However the powers do not apply to a dwelling provided after
1944 unless it was provided by conversion before 3rd October, 1961,
Local authorities may accept undertakings to do work and may execute
work in default and recover the expenses. A lessor may apply to the
County Court for his lessee to pay an increased rent to allow for the
expenses incurred in executing the improvements. In the case of rent
controlled dwellings improvements under the Act become improvements for
the purpose of increasing rents under the Rent Act 1957.
Part IV concerns houses in multiple occupation and amends Part II of
the Housing Act, 1961. Expenses incurred by a local authority in carrying
out the work shall be a charge upon the property concerned; where a
person fails to execute works in connection with a notice under Sections
14, 15 or 16 of the 1961 Act he is liable to a fine of £100 and for a
subsequent offence a fine of £100 and/or 3 months imprisonment.
Sections 15 and 19 of the Act of 1961 are amended so that the local
authority may now simultaneously specify the maximum persons who may live
in the house and also require the execution of works to make the house
suitable for that number,
If on 13th November, 1963 all or any dwellings in a tenement block
are without one or more of the standard amenities, the management order
provisions of the 1961 Act shall be applicable to the dwellings as though
they were individual properties. Where a local authority has made a
compulsory purchase order in respect of a house in multiple occupation
the lessor cannot regain possession from the former lessee except by
application to the County Court, This restriction applies for 12 months
from the making of the order or until the date (if earlier) when the
Minister refuses to confirm it. If a person attempts to gain possession
of the premises otherwise than by proceedings in the County Court he is
liable to a fine not exceeding £100 and/or 6 months imprisonment,
Where action has been taken under Part II of the 1961 Act, and in
addition the living conditions appear to necessitate the making of an
order for the protection of the safety, welfare or health of persons
living in the house a local authority may make a control order which
comes into force as soon as it is made. The local authority have the
right under the order to take any action that might have been taken by
the landlord and in particular, rights of occupation may be created in
the nature of tenancies terminable after a period of notice not exceeding
one month. Tenants must not impede the local authority s introduction
of good management practice. An order may exclude any part of a house
which is occupied by the dispossessed proprietor.
Where a control order is in force, the local authority has a duty to
maintain proper standards of management,