(1) In these by laws-

“approved” means approved by the local authority or by any employee of the local authority to whom its power of approval may have been delegated in terms of these regulations or any other law;

“architect” means a person registered as a member of the Architects Council of Rhodesia in terms of the Architects Act, 1975 [No. 35 of 1975];

“basement” means any storey beneath the ground storey

“builder”, except in Chapter 12 means the person undertaking construction of a building or the principal parts of a building, and includes a building contractor or an owner who is undertaking the contracting, but does not include a person undertaking limited parts of the construction including the brickwork, carpentry or painting alone;

“dwelling” means a dwelling-house or a dwelling-unit as defined in Chapter 11;

“housing project” means a project for the construction of two or more dwelling-houses or units not exceeding two storeys in height;

“invert” means, for any cross-section, the lowest portion of the inner surface of a conduit;

“Minister” means Minister of local Government and housing

“occupier” shall include any person in actual occupation of land or premise, without regard to the title under which he occupies, and, in the case of premise subdivided and to let lodgers or various tenants, shall include the person receiving the rent payable by the lodgers or tenants whether on his own account or as agent for any person entitled thereto or interested therein;

“owner”, in relation to a building or a sewerage system under construction, repair or alteration, or about to be constructed, repaired or altered, means the person upon whom ultimately rests the obligation to pay for the construction, repair or alteration of such building or sewerage system;

“plans” includes drawings, sections, elevations, specifications, structural detail drawings any application form relevant thereto;

“plumber”, except in Chapter 9, means a person undertaking plumbing or sewerage work;

“prescribed fee” means the tariff, charge or deposit payable to the local authority in terms of section 172 of the Urban Councils Act[Chapter 214], or section 79 of the Rural Councils Act[Chapter211];

“sewerage system” means all pipes, traps, vents, sanitary fittings, cisterns, joints, manholes, inspection covers or any other thing which is intended or used for the disposal of soil water or waste water;

“sewerage work”, except in Chapter 9, means any work on a sewerage system and includes any work on drains and any plumbing work which may be done in conjunction with any building work or sewerage work;

“site” means the stand, lot, plot or surveyed or otherwise demarcated or limited area of land upon which a building is being constructed or sewerage work is being undertaken;

“soil water” means excremental liquid discharged from soil-water fittings;

“storey”-

(a) includes a basement;

(b) “first storey” means the storey immediately above the ground storey;

(c) “ground storey” means that storey of a building to which there is an entrance from the outside on or near the finished ground-level adjoining such entrance, and, in the case of more than one such storey, the lowest;

(d) “height of storey” means the average vertical distance measured from the upper surface of the floor of that storey to the underside of the ceiling of that storey, or, where there is no ceiling of that storey, to the underside of the rafters, the joists of the beams, as the case may be, above such storey

(e) “mezzanine storey” means a storey extending over only part of the building and introduced between two other storeys;

(f) “topmost storey” means the uppermost storey, whether constructed wholly or partly in the roof or not, and whether adapted for human habitation or not;

“structural engineer” means a person who is a corporate member of the Rhodesian Institution of Engineers (Private) Act[Chapter 226] and is approved by the local authority;

“waste water” means non-excremental liquid discharged from waste-water fittings.

(2) For the purpose of there by-laws, the owner of the site upon which a building or sewerage system is being or is to be constructed, repaired or altered shall, unless he proves the contrary, be deemed to be the person on whom ultimately rests the obligation to pay for the construction, repair or alteration of such building or sewerage system.

(3) All references in these by-laws to-

(a) “C.A.S.”; or

(b) “C.A.S. No.”; or

(c) “S.A.B.S.”; or

(d) “B.S”;

followed by a number or by a letter or letters and a number shall be construed as a reference to the appropriately numbered publication embodying a standard or a code of practise laid down in the case of paragraphs (a) and (b), by the Standards association of Central Africa and in the case of paragraph (c) and (d), by the South African Bureau of Standards and the British Standards Institution respectively, which publication, may be inspected free of charge at the offices of the Standards Association of Central Africa, 17, Coventry Road, Workington, Salisbury.

(4) Any amendment made to a standard or a code of practise referred to in subsection (3) shall have force and effect in these by-laws from the date of such amendment, unless the Minister, on the recommendation of the variations committee appointed in terms of section 59, does not approve the amendment and publishes a notice to this effect in the Gazette.

(5) When applying provisions of these by-laws which incorporate such subjective expressions as “acceptable”, “adequate”, “proper”, “reasonable”, “satisfactory” or “suitable”, the local authority shall regard to-

(a) the general nature of the standards set in these by-laws; and

(b) the nature of the specific circumstances of each case.