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The difficulty just referred to does not, of course, apply to empty houses, but
these are now very few.
The following are the particulars of the results of the action that was taken
under the corresponding section (28) of the Housing, Town Planning, &c., Act, 1919:—
Houses scheduled as derelict and suitable for action under
this Schedule 264
Houses purchased by Borough Council, repaired and let 13
Houses dealt with by owners without service of notice 57
Number of notices served 83
Houses repaired by owners in compliance with notice 32
Houses repaired by Council in default of owners 4
Houses in respect of which owners appealed to Ministry of
Health on grounds that property could not be repaired
without reconstruction 29
In every case decision of Ministry was given in favour of owners.
The experience summarised above has had the effect of discouraging similar
action under the 1925 Act for two reasons. In the first place difficulty was experienced
by the Borough Council in recovering money spent upon repairs when the owners
were in default. In the second, the result of appeals to the Ministry of Health
created the impression that in so far as a large proportion of the houses deemed
suitable for action under this Section were concerned, the Act was not likely to
prove workable.
For the last eleven years a routine house-to-house inspection has been carried
out, and has been the means of bringing to light and of having rectified a very large
number of defects. The number of houses inspected under this scheme has been
as follows:—
1920 4,495 1921 1,987 1922 1,495
1923 1,619 1924 3,279 1925 3,270
1926 3,202 1927 2,756 1928 3,973
1929 2,050 1930 1,997
Water Supply.—Every dwelling house in the Borough has a water supply from
the mains of the Metropolitan Water Board. In the great majority of cases the
supply is inside the house, but there are some houses in which the tap is in the yard.
It has been explained that houses originally designed for one are now occupied
in many instances by two or more families. In these houses the water supply has,
in the majority of cases, been carried to one of the upper storeys.
Water Closets.—With very few exceptions all houses have water-closet
accommodation within their own curtilage. In the case of tenement houses the
original accommodation is frequently found to be inadequate, and a considerable