Housing Act 1957

44 Clearance orders: general provisions

(1) Where as respects any area declared by them to be a clearance area a local authority determine to order any buildings in the area to be demolished, they shall make and submit to the Minister, for confirmation by him, a clearance order ordering the demolition of each of those buildings.

(2) The provisions of the Fifth Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the making, submission and confirmation of a clearance order, and the provisions of the Fourth Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the validity and date of operation of such an order.

(3) When a clearance order has become operative, the owner or owners of any building to which the order applies shall demolish that building before the expiration of six weeks from the date on which the building is required by the order to be vacated or, if it is not vacated until after that date, before the expiration of six weeks from the date on which it is vacated or, in either case, before the expiration of such longer period as in the circumstances the local authority may deem reasonable ; and, if the building is not demolished before the expiration of that period, the local authority shall enter and demolish the building and sell the materials thereof.

(4) The provisions of subsections (2) to (5) of section twenty-three of this Act shall apply in relation to any expenses incurred by the authority under the last foregoing subsection and to any surplus remaining in the hands of the authority as they apply in relation to any expenses or surplus in a case where a house is demolished in pursuance of a demolition order made under Part II of this Act, with the substitution of references to the building demolished under this section for references to the house demolished under the said section twenty-three.

(5) When a clearance order has become operative, no land to which the order applies shall be used for building purposes, or otherwise developed, except subject to such restrictions and conditions, if any, as the local authority may think fit to impose:

Provided that an owner who is aggrieved by a restriction or condition so imposed on the user of his land, or by a subsequent refusal of the authority to cancel or modify any such restriction or condition, may at any time appeal to the Minister, who shall make such order in the matter as he thinks proper, and the Minister's decision shall be final.

(6) A person who commences, or causes to be commenced, any work in contravention of a restriction or condition imposed under the last foregoing subsection shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding forty shillings, and to a further fine not exceeding ten pounds in respect of each day during which the work exists in such a form and state as to contravene the restriction or condition.

(7) The provisions of section twenty-five of this Act relating to the cleansing of houses from vermin shall have effect in relation to a house to which a clearance order applies as they have effect in relation to a building to which a demolition order made under Part II of this Act applies, with the substitution, for the reference to the date on which the demolition order is made, of a reference to the date on which the clearance order is confirmed, and, for the reference to subsection (1) of section twenty-three of this Act, of a reference to subsection (3) of this section.

(8) In the provisions of this Act relating to buildings included in an area to which a clearance order applies, references to a building shall include references to a hut, tent, caravan or other temporary or movable form of shelter which is used for human habitation and has been in the same enclosure for a period of two years next before action is taken under those provisions, and the reference to development in subsection (5) of this section includes a reference to the erection or placing on land of a hut, tent, caravan or other temporary or movable form of shelter.