(1)Nothing in the Rent Acts shall prevent possession being obtained of any house possession of which is required for the purpose of enabling a local authority to exercise their powers under any enactment relating to housing.
(2)Where a local authority, for the purpose of exercising their powers under any enactment relating to housing, require possession of any building or any part of a building of which they are the owners, then, whatever may be the value or rent of the building or part of a building, they may obtain possession thereof under the Small Tenements Recovery Act, 1838, as in the cases therein provided for, at any time after the tenancy of the occupier has expired, or has been determined.
Any person authorised in writing stating the particular purpose or purposes for which the entry is authorised, by the local authority or the Minister, may at all reasonable times, on giving twenty-four hours' notice to the occupier and to the owner, if the owner is known, of his intention, enter any house, premises, or buildings—
(a)for the purpose of survey or valuation, in the case of houses, premises, or buildings which the local authority are authorised by this Act to purchase compulsorily; or
(b)for the purpose of survey and examination, in the case of a house in respect of which—
(i)a notice requiring the execution of works has been served under Part II of this Act, or
(ii)a demolition order has been made under Part II or Part III of this Act, or
(iii)a closing order has been made under section eighteen of this Act, or
(iv)a clearance order has been made under Part I11 of this Act, or
(c)for the purpose of survey and examination, where it appears to the authority or Minister that survey or examination is necessary in order to determine whether any powers under this Act should be exercised in respect of the house, premises or building; or
(d)for the purpose of measuring the rooms of a house in order to ascertain for the purposes of Part IV of this Act the number of persons permitted to use the house for sleeping.
If any person obstructs the medical officer of health or any officer of the local authority, or of the Minister, or any person authorised to enter houses, premises, or buildings in pursuance of this Act in the performance of anything which such officer, authority, or person is by this Act required or authorised to do, he shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a tine not exceeding twenty pounds.
If any person, after receiving notice of the intended action,—
(a)being the occupier of any premises, prevents the owner thereof or his officers, agents, servants or workmen, from carrying into effect with respect to those premises any of the provisions of Part II of this Act; or
(b)being the owner or occupier of any premises prevents the medical officer of health, or any officers, agents, servants or workmen of that officer or of the local authority, from so doing ;
a magistrates' court may order him to permit to be done on the premises all things requisite for carrying into effect those provisions, and if he fails to comply with the order, he shall, in respect of each day during which the failure continues, be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.