HC Deb 16 December 1952 vol 509 cc165-6W
105. Mr. Isaacs

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will introduce legislation that will give local authorities power to trace owners of property who neglect their responsibility to carry out the orders of the sanitary inspector to remedy defects in houses owned by them, where such owners have no known address at which they can be found.

Mr. H. Macmillan

I would refer the hon. Member to Sections 9, 167 and 168 of the Housing Act, 1936.

109. Mr. A. Evans

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what steps he has taken to ensure that the regulations prescribed by him under Section 5 of the Housing Act, 1936, relating to houses unfit for human habitation, are now being complied with, and the records kept up-to-date.

Mr. H. Macmillan

I am asking all local authorities to submit returns after the end of the year, as they were required to do before 1939. The requirement was dropped during the war, but many local authorities have continued to supply the information.

125. Mr. P. Thomas

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether, in view of the shortage of housing accommodation, he will consider the introduction, as a matter of urgency, of a Bill to amend the Housing Act, 1936, in order to determine demolition orders made under Section 11 of that Act where houses, in respect of which such orders have been made, have been put into habitable condition.

Mr. H. Macmillan

No. Owners have already sufficient time to make a house habitable before a demolition order becomes operative.