Western Australian Current Acts

HEALTH (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1911 - SECT 108

108 .         Examination of drains etc.

        (1)         If the local government suspects that any drain, sanitary convenience, or apparatus for the treatment of sewage in the district is a nuisance or injurious to health, the local government may, after 24 hours’ written notice to the occupier of the land, or in case of emergency, of which the local government shall be the judge, without notice, direct an officer to enter the land, with or without assistants, and cause the ground to be opened, and examine such drains, sanitary convenience or apparatus.

        (2)         If the same, on examination, is found to be in a proper condition, the officer shall cause the ground to be closed, and any damage done to be made good as soon as can be, and the expenses of the works shall be defrayed by the local government.

        (3)         If the same, on examination, appears to be in a bad condition, or to require alteration or amendment, the local government shall forthwith cause notice, in writing, to be given to the owner or occupier of the land requiring him forthwith or within a time therein specified, to do the necessary works.

        (4)         An owner or occupier who neglects or refuses to comply with the requirements of a notice given to him under subsection (3) commits an offence.

        (4a)         When an owner or occupier neglects or refuses to comply with the requirements of a notice given to him under subsection (3), the local government may do the works required by that notice to be done and recover from the owner or occupier so in default the expense incurred by it in so doing.

        (5)         Where 2 or more houses belonging to different owners are connected with a public sewer by a single private drain, a notice may be given under this section to the several owners and occupiers, and the local government may recover any expenses incurred by it in executing any works under the powers conferred on it by this section from the owners of the houses, in such shares and proportions as the local government thinks just, or as, in case of dispute, may be decided by a court of competent jurisdiction.

        [Section 108, formerly section 89, renumbered as section 108: No. 38 of 1933 s. 42; amended: No. 113 of 1965 s. 8(1); No. 80 of 1987 s. 19; No. 59 of 1991 s. 12; No. 14 of 1996 s. 4; No. 59 of 2004 s. 141.]