Housing Act 1957

72 Power of local authority to order demolition of obstructive building

(1) The local authority may serve upon the owner or owners of a building which appears to the authority to be an obstructive building notice of the time (being some time not less than twenty-one days after the service of the notice) and place at which the question of ordering the building to be demolished will be considered by the authority; and the owner or owners shall be entitled to be heard when the matter is so taken into consideration.

(2) If, after so taking the matter into consideration, the authority are satisfied that the building is an obstructive building and that the building or any part thereof ought to be demolished, they may make a demolition order requiring that the building or that part thereof shall be demolished, and that the building, or such part thereof as is required to be vacated for the purposes of the demolition, shall be vacated within two months from the date on which the order becomes operative, and if they do so, shall serve a copy of the order upon the owner or owners of the building.

(3) Any person aggrieved by a demolition order made under this section may, within twenty-one days after the date of the service of the order, appeal to the county court within the jurisdiction of which the premises to which the order relates are situated and no proceedings shall be taken by the local authority to enforce any such order in relation to which an appeal is brought before the appeal has been finally determined, so, however, that no appeal shall lie at the instance of a person who is in occupation of the premises to which the order relates under a lease or agreement of which the unexpired term does not exceed three years.

On an appeal under this subsection the judge may make such order either confirming or quashing or varying the order as he thinks fit, and sections thirty-seven and thirty-eight of this Act shall apply to any such appeal.

(4) In this section the expression " obstructive building" means a building which, by reason only of its contact with, or proximity to, other buildings, is dangerous or injurious to health.

(5) This section shall not apply to a building which is the property of statutory undertakers, unless it is used for the purposes of a dwelling, showroom, or office, or which is the property of a local authority.