PART XV

Repair of certain premises

74.--

(1) This section applies to dwelling-houses in the parish of Hebden Royd in the metropolitan borough of Calderdale and in this section "dwelling-house" means a building or part of a building intended to be occupied as a separate dwelling.

(2) If it appears to any person, being an owner of a dwelling-house to which this section applies which is so constructed that any part of the dwelling-house is above or beneath any other premises, that those other premises are in such a state of disrepair as to be detrimental to the structure or the amenities of the dwelling-house, he may serve on the owner of those premises a notice (hereafter in this section referred to as a "repairs notice") requiring the owner of the premises to carry out within such reasonable time as may be therein specified such repairs as may be so specified for the purposes of preserving or restoring the structure or the amenities of the dwelling-house.

(3) if an owner of premises to whom a repairs notice has been given under subsection (2) above fails to commence the works sepcified in the notice before the expiration of twenty-eight days, or fails to complete such works within the time speciied in the notice, the owner of the dwelling-house may apply to the county court for an order under this subsection and if the court is satisfisfied, having regard to all the other circumstances of the case, including the obligations of any person under a lease, that the premises should be repaired by the owner thereof, the court may make an order (hereafter in this section referred to as a "repairs order") requiring the owner of the premises to carry out within a time specified in the order such of the works specified in the repairs notice as it considers necessary for the purpose mentioned in subsection (2) above and may make directions for giving effect to its decision.

(4) If the owner of the premises fails to comply with a repairs order, the owner of the dwelling-house (or, with the consent of the owner of the dwelling-house, the council) may enter upon the premises and carry out the works specified in the repairs order and may recover from the owner for the time being of the premises the expenses reasonably incurred in so doing.

(5) Nothing in this section shall authorise a repairs notice to be served or a repairs order to be made with respect to any premises which are subject to compulsory acquisition under any enactment, but nothing in this subsection shall affect any right to recover expenses incurred before the premises became so subject.

(6)

(a) Sections 283, 285, and 294 of the Act of 1936 shall have effect for the purposes of this section as if references therein to that Act included a reference to this section and references to a council included a reference to the owner of a dwelling-house.

(b) The council may at the request of the owner of a dwelling-house to which this section applies exercise the powers of section 16 of the Act of 1976 in relation to any premises as if the provisions of this section conferred a function on the council.