Public Health Act 1961

35Filthy or verminous premises

(1)Section eighty-three of the Public Health Act, 1936 (which relates to the cleansing of filthy or verminous premises), shall be amended as follows.

(2)For subsection (1) of the said section eighty-three there shall be substituted the following subsections—

“(1)Where a local authority, upon consideration of a report from any of their officers, or other information in their possession, are satisfied that any premises—

(a)are in such a filthy or unwholesome condition as to be prejudicial to health, or

(b)are verminous,

the local authority shall give notice to the owner or occupier of the premises requiring him to take such steps as may be specified in the notice to remedy the condition of the premises by cleansing and disinfecting them, and the notice may require among other things the removal of wallpaper or other covering of the walls, or, in the case of verminous premises, the taking of such steps as may be necessary for destroying or removing vermin.

(1A)A notice under the foregoing subsection may require—

(a)the interior surface of premises used for human habitation or as shops or offices to be papered, painted or distempered, and

(b)the interior surface of any other premises to be painted, distempered or whitewashed,

and shall allow the person on whom the notice is served, or the local authority acting in his default, to choose, in a case under paragraph (a) of this subsection, between papering, painting and distempering and, in a case under paragraph (b) of this subsection, between painting, distempering and whitewashing.”

(3)At the end of the said section eighty-three there shall be added the following subsection—

“(4)This section shall not apply to any premises forming part of a factory or of a mine or quarry within the meaning of the Mines and Quarries Act, 1954.”

(4)This section shall not affect any notice given under the said section eighty-three before the commencement of this Act.