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HOUSING REPAIRS & RENTS ACT.1954.
This Act required Councils to submit to the Minister
of Housing and Local Government "by 30th August, 1955, proposals
for dealing with unfit houses in their districts.
The situation was not very serious here because the
policy of the Council for many years has been to insist upon
owners maintaining their property in good condition or pulling
it down when it became beyond repair at reasonable cost.
After due consideration it was decided to inform the
Minister that out of 18,466 permanent dwellings in the area
only six houses were considered to be unfit and suitable for
action under Sections 11 or 25 of the Housing Act, 1936.
During the year twenty-five applications for Certificates
of Disrepair were received following action by landlords to
apply the permitted rent increase.
Twenty such Certificates were granted, four refused, and
one application withdrawn, making a total since the commencement
of the Act (1st August 1954) of 45 issued, four refused, and
thirty-six revoked upon completion of the necessary repairs.
The expected flood of applications for these Certificates
did not arrive and generally the whole thing passed off with
considerably less trouble than had been anticipated. It is,
of course, not known to what extent landlords tried to take
advantage of the opportunity to raise rents.
IMPROVEMENT GRANTS.
The Housing Act, 1949 introduced a scheme to encourage
property owners to modernise existing houses "which though
soundly constructed and in good general repair, lack the
amenities and conveniences which have come to be regarded as
essential to a decent and healthy life", by providing financial
assistance for works of improvement.
The Council continued to operate this scheme in cases
where new housing accommodation would be provided by the
conversion of an existing building, where additional
accommodation was to be provided by adding rooms, and where
it was intended to improve the sanitary arrangements and/or
the system of water heating.
24.