London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Haringey 1971
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Haringey]
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Before issuing the Qualification Certificate the Council must be satisfied that, in addition to having all the standard
amenities, the dwelling is fit for human habitation and is in good repair having regard to its age, character and
locality.
282 applications for Certificates were received in 1971.
Applications for Qualification Certificates
| Dwellings having amenities at 25th August 1969 | ||
| No. of Applications outstanding at 1.1.71 | 562 | |
| No. of Applications received in 1971 | 282 | |
| 844 | ||
| No. of Qualification Certificates Granted | 183 | |
| No. of Qualification Certificates Refused | 159 | |
| No. of Applications withdrawn | 22 | |
| No. of Applications where owners notified of repairs needed | 403 | |
| 767 | ||
| No. of Applications under investigation at 31 December, 1971 | 77 |
Where a controlled dwelling lacked some of the standard amenities in August 1969, the owner may submit
proposals for installing these amenities, with or without the aid of a grant from the Council and apply for a
Certificate of Provisional Approval. This will enable him to request the Rent Officer to indicate the fair rent for
the improved dwelling if and when the improvements and repairs have been completed. When the fair rent has
been fixed and the tenant advised, the owner must then request the tenant to consent in writing to the improvements
being carried out: and only if this consent is given can the owner be entitled to a Qualification Certificate
upon the satisfactory completion of the work. This enables him to request the Rent Officer to register the fair
rent.
227 applications were received in 1971. Application for Qualification Certificates Missing Amenities to be provided
| No. of Applications outstanding at 1.1.71 | 77 | |
| No. of Applications received in 1971 | 227 | 304 |
| No. of Certificates of Provisional Approved issued | 177 | |
| No. of Certificates refused | 17 | |
| 194 | ||
| No. of Applications under investigation or negotiation at 31 | ||
| December, 1971 | 110 |
Houses in Multiple Occupation
Consideration was again given during the year to the question of the registration of houses in multiple occupation,
and a questionnaire was sent to all the boroughs in Greater London concerning this.
The results of this survey indicated that 7 of the 31 London Boroughs had made schemes of registration and 3
were proposing to have schemes. Of the remaining 21 authorities, only three were considering schemes, the other
18 having either decided against a scheme of registration or considered that a scheme was not warranted in their
area. These results were studied by the Health Committee, who decided to reconsider the matter at a future date
in 1972.
Should it be decided to implement a scheme of registration it would most certainly be necessary to increase
substantially the staff engaged upon multiple occupation work, in order for the scheme to be administered
properly, so that the information it revealed could be followed up quickly by inspection and remedial action
when necessary. It is no good merely to collect information and not make use of it speedily, because the details
provided, even when correct, can rapidly become out of date due to the not infrequent changes which occur in the
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