Local Government Act 1976 · Updated to 1 Dec 2012 · Part IX · Food, Markets, Sanitation and Nuisances
77. Closing and demolition, etc., of insanitary dwellings
Feedback & supportWhen the Health Officer has certified in writing that in his opinion any building or part of a building or anything attached to a building used or occupied as a dwelling is unfit for human habitation and cannot be rendered fit therefor without the removal, alteration or demolition in whole or in part of any partition, compartment, loft, gallery, pentroof, out-house or other structure or erection or without the execution of such alterations or structural operations as he specifies, he may by notice in writing require the owner thereof to carry into effect all or any of the following things:
Health Officer
“Health Officer” means the officer for the time being perfoming the duties of a Health Officer to a local authority and includes an Assistant Health Officer;
the removal, alteration or demolition of the whole or part of the partitions or other erections or obstructions complained of; and
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the execution of such alterations or structural operations as are necessary to render the premises fit for human habitation and to guard against danger of disease.
The notice shall specify the period, which shall not be less than seven days, within which the work is to be completed.
If the notice has not been complied with, a Magistrate’s Court may, on the application of the local authority, make a mandatory order requiring the owner to carry into effect all or any of the things specified in the said notice.
Any person who without the express sanction in writing of the local authority replaces any partition, erection or obstruction removed under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment and to a further fine not exceeding one hundred ringgit for each day after conviction during which the work is not carried out, and the local authority may enter upon such premises and remove such partition, erection or obstruction.
The local authority may for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of subsection (1), by notice to be posted in a conspicuous position upon the building, require the owner or occupier, as the case may be, to cease to inhabit the building and to remove all goods, furniture and effects from the building within forty-eight hours from the posting of the notice, or within such extended period as the local authority may allow.
building
“building” includes any house, hut, shed or roofed enclosure, whether used for the purpose of human habitation or otherwise, and also any wall, fence, platform, underground tank, staging, gate, post, pillar, paling, frame, hoarding, slip, dock, wharf, pier, jetty, landing-stage, swimming pool, bridge, railway lines, transmission lines, cables, redifussion lines, overhead or underground pipelines, or any other structure, support or foundation;
The owner and every occupying tenant shall thereupon comply with the requirements of the notice.
Any owner or occupier in default shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit for each day during the period in which he has failed to comply with the requirements of the notice.
occupier
“occupier” means the person in occupation of the premises in respect of which the word is used or having the charge, management or control thereof either on his own account or as agent of another person but does not include a lodger;
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Notwithstanding subsection (7), at the expiration of forty-eight hours from the posting of the notice or such extended period under subsection (5), the local authority may remove all goods, furniture and effects from the building.