Housing (Scotland) Act 1925
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1925 c. 15 |
| Year | 1925 |
Housing (Scotland) Act, 1925
(15 & 16 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 15.
An Act to consolidate the enactments relating to the Housing of the Working Classes in Scotland.
[9th April 1925]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I.
and Sanitary Conditions of Houses.Provisions for securing the Repair, Maintenance
Obligations as to Repair of Houses.
1 Conditions to be implied on letting houses for habitation.
(1) In any contract for letting for habitation a dwelling-house at a rent not exceeding twenty-six pounds, there shall, notwithstanding any stipulation to the contrary, be implied a condition that the house is at the commencement of the tenancy, and an undertaking that the house will be kept by the landlord during the tenancy, in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation:
Provided that the condition and undertaking aforesaid shall not be implied when a house is let for a period of not less than three years upon the terms that it be put by the lessee into a condition in all respects reasonably fit for habitation, and the lease is not determinable at the option of either party before the expiration of three years.
(2) The landlord, or any person authorised by him in writing, may at reasonable times of the day, on giving twenty-four hours' notice in writing to the tenant or occupier, enter any premises to which this section applies for the purpose of viewing the state and condition thereof.
(3) In this section the expression ‘landlord’ means any person who lets to a tenant for habitation any house under any contract referred to in this section, and includes his successors in title, and the expression ‘dwelling-house’ includes part of a dwelling-house.
(4) This section shall apply to a contract made either before or after the commencement of this Act:
Provided that in the case of a house the rent whereof exceeds sixteen pounds this section shall not apply if the contract was made before the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-three.
2 Application of s. 1 to dwelling-houses occupied by workmen engaged in agriculture.
(1) Notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, where under any contract of employment of a workman employed in agriculture the provision of a house or part of a house for the occupation of the workman forms part of the remuneration of the workman, and the provisions of the foregoing section are inapplicable by reason only of the house or part of the house not being let to the workman, there shall be implied as part of the contract of employment the like condition and undertaking as would be implied under those provisions if the house or part of the house were so let, and those provisions shall apply accordingly as if incorporated in this section, with the substitution of ‘employer’ for ‘landlord’ and such other modifications as may be necessary:
Provided that this section shall not affect the obligation of any person other than the employer to repair a house to which this section applies, or any remedy for enforcing any such obligation.
(2) This section shall apply whether the contract of employment was entered into before or after the commencement of this Act, but shall not apply in respect of any period during which the house was occupied under any such contract before the first day of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-one.
3 Power to local authority to repair houses.
(1) If the owner of any dwelling-house suitable for occupation by persons of the working classes fails to make or keep the house in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation, then, without prejudice to any other powers, the local authority may serve a notice in writing upon the owner of the house, requiring him within a reasonable time, not being less than twenty-one days, specified in the notice, to execute the works specified in the notice as being necessary to make the house in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation:
Provided that, if the house is not capable without reconstruction of being made in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation, the owner may, within twenty-one days after the receipt of such notice, by written counter notice to the local authority, declare his intention of closing the house for human habitation, and thereupon a closing order shall be deemed to have become operative in respect of such house. Any question arising under this proviso shall, in case of difference between the owner and the local authority, be determined by the sheriff.
(2) If the notice of the local authority is not complied with, then—
(a ) at the expiration of the time specified in that notice if no such counter notice as aforesaid has been given by the owner; and
(b ) at the expiration of twenty-one days from the determination by the sheriff if such notice has been given by the owner, and the sheriff has determined that the house is capable without reconstruction of being made in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation,
the local authority may themselves do the work required to be done.
(3) (a ) Any expenses incurred by the local authority under this section may be recovered from the owner in a summary mariner, together with interest at the prescribed rate, from the date of service of a demand for the same till payment thereof.
(b ) The local authority may by order declare any such expenses to be payable by monthly or annual instalments within a period not exceeding thirty years, with interest at the prescribed rate from the date of service of notice of demand until the whole amount is paid, and any such instalments and interest or any part thereof may be recovered in a summary manner from the owner or occupier, and if recovered from the occupier may be deducted by him from the rent of the house.
(c ) For the purposes of this subsection, interest at the prescribed rate means interest at such rate as the Board with the approval of the Treasury may from time to time by order fix, and different rates of interest may be fixed in different cases.
(4) An owner may appeal to the sheriff against—
(a ) any notice requiring him to execute works under this section; or
(b ) any demand for the recovery of expenses from him under this section; or
(c ) an order made by the local authority under this section with respect to those expenses;
by giving notice of appeal to the sheriff within twenty-one days after the notice is received or the demand or order is made, as the case may be, or such longer time as the sheriff may allow, and no proceedings shall be taken in respect of any notice, demand or order whilst the appeal is pending:
Provided that no appeal against such a demand or order shall lie if and so far as the appeal raises any question which might have been raised on an appeal against the notice itself.
(5) Any such notice, demand or order shall be binding and conclusive as to any matters which could have been raised on such appeal to the sheriff.
(6) In addition to serving the notice on the owner the local authority may serve copies of the notice on any persons having a right or interest in the premises superior to that of the owner, and it shall be the duty of the owner or any other person having such a right or interest, on being so required by the local authority, to state the name and address of the person from whom he holds, and if he fails to do so, or knowingly makes a mis-statement, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds.
(7) Any remedy given by this section for failure to make or keep a house in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any remedy available to the tenant against the landlord, either at common law or otherwise.
(8) In this section ‘owner’ has the same meaning as in the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897 .
4 Power of local authority to acquire closed houses.
4. Where a dwelling-house in respect of which a notice has been served upon the owner by the local authority under subsection (1) of the last foregoing section is not capable without reconstruction of being made in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation, and a closing order has in consequence been deemed to have become operative in respect thereof, the Board may, on the application of the local authority, make an order authorising the local authority to acquire the house, and thereupon this Act shall apply as if the house were land authorised to be acquired compulsorily for the purposes of a reconstruction scheme under Part II. of this Act, and that land were specified in the scheme as having been included therein on account of the sanitary condition of the premises thereon.
Duly of Local Authority and Medical Officer of Health to Inspect Houses, &c.
5 Duty of local authority to inspect their district.
5. It shall be the duty of every local authority to cause an inspection of their district to be made from time to time with a view to ascertaining whether any dwelling-house therein is in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation, and for that purpose it shall be the duty of the local authority, and every officer of the local authority, to comply with such regulations and to keep such...
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