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50
Houses let in Lodgings.
Special Report presented to the Council, May 5th, 1903.
The Public Health (London) Act, 1891, makes it compulsory
for every Metropolitan Sanitary Authority to make, and enforce,
Bye-laws as to houses let in lodgings, or occupied by members of
more than one family, A series of Bye-laws was adopted by the
late Vestry on January 21st, 1897, and confirmed by the Local
Government Board on May llth, 1897. Since the passing of the
Bye-laws, houses have been registered as follow:—
1897 93 houses
1898 258 „
1899 34 „
1900 26 .,
making a total of 411 houses (containing 2,369 rooms) registered
by the late Vestry. With the re-arrangement of the Parish
boundaries in connection with the formation of the new Borough
of Lambeth, 40 of these houses (containing 252 rooms) were
transferred to other districts, and there are now within the Borough
of Lambeth 371 registered houses, containing 2,117 rooms, in
which, at the time of registration, resided 3,644 persons, of whom
2,294 were over ten years of age.
The ostensible objects aimed at in the Bye-laws are to ensure
(1) absence of over-crowding, (2) periodical cleansing and limewhiting,
and the instruction of the late Vestry was only to select
for registration those houses which it was thought could not be
satisfactorily inspected and supervised otherwise, and where there
was reason to believe that over-crowding existed.
The experience gained in connection with these houses registered
under these Bye-laws has been, speaking generally, that a Sanitary
Authoiry's Officers are hampered and their hands weakened instead
of being strengthened. It is found that the Inspectors have
greater powers under the house-to-house-inspection provisions
of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, than under such
Bye-laws.
There is a difficulty in getting the annual cleansing done under
Bye-law 15, as a landlord of a lodging-house is responsible, and
such landlord is defined in the Bye laws as being the person,
whatever may be the nature or extent of his interest in the
premises, by whom, or on whose behalf, such house, or part of a