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Local Authorities will, under the Act, themselves make
closing orders, and the powers of a Court of Summary
Jurisdiction in this respect will cease.
The new Act extends to houses of much higher
rentals than those fixed by Section 75 of the Act of 1890;
in Boroughs and Urban Districts with a population at
last Census of 50,000 and upwards, £26; or in the case
or a house situated elsewhere (outside London), £06
rental. It is taken that the condition implied in the
contract for letting is that the house is fit for habitation,
and includes in the implication a condition that the
landlord shall keep the house in a state reasonably fit for
habitation during the holding. New powers are given
to Local Authorities in regard to landlords who make
default in this respect.
Other important provisions to which attention may
well be drawn are those contained in Section 17 (7) with
regard to underground rooms habitually used as sleeping
places ; in Section 43, which prohibits the erection of
back-to-back houses ; and in Section 36, which considerably
enlarges the power of entry on premises for the
purposes of the Acts.
TOWN PLANNING.
The object of the Town Planning part of the Act is
to ensue, by means of schemes which may be prepared
either by Local Authorities or Landowners, that in the
future land in the vicinity of towns shall be developed
in such a way as to secure proper sanitary conditions,
amenity and convenience in connection with the laying
out of the land itself, and of any neighbouring land. In
the. past (for want of co-ordination in the matter of
guidance and control), to a great extent, the development
of estates has been with the sole regard to the
immediate interests of the particular estate, without
regard to the amenity and convenience of neighbouring
lands.
The Act marks a material advance in the relations
between owners of land and the Local Authorities in this
country, and enables each party to co-operate with the
other in promoting the general good.
PUBLIC-HEALTH ACT (AMENDMENT ACT)),
1907.
The Council have adopted Part II. of the Act as a
whole : Sections 34 to 38 and 43, 44, 45, 47 and 51
comprised in Part III.; Parts IV. and VI. entirely, and
Section 95 comprised in Part X.