View report page

79
Houses Let in Lodgings.
In 1905 the Council revised the bye-laws relating to houses let
in lodgings, so as to provide for the serving of a notice upon the landlord
before taking proceedings against him. This course became
necessary in view of two decisions of the High Court which laid it
down that bye-laws that did not provide for the serving of such a
notice were bad. Unfortunately, however, the action of the Council
in making a new bye-law invalidated the old bye-laws and consequently
invalidated the registration of all houses registered under
the old bye-laws. It became necessary, therefore, to begin the work
of registration anew. At the end of 1905 the number of houses
placed on the new register was 199, and in 1906 40 houses were
added, making a total of 239 registered houses at the end of 1906.
These figures are far from indicating the total number of houses in
Hampstead that need to be dealt with under the provisions of the
bye-laws relating to houses let in lodgings. At a moderate estimate
the total number of such houses may be put down at from 800 to
1,000. The number, moreover, tends to increase, especially in the
Kilburn Ward, where there is a growing tendency for houses
originally intended for one family to become occupied as tenement
houses. With the present sanitary staff it would be quite impossible
to exercise an effective supervision over the number of houses I have
indicated as calling for registration. The services ot at least one
additional inspector will be necessary before the Health Department
will be in a position to register and inspect an adequate number of
tenement houses under the bye-laws, and so exercise that control of
these houses which is, in my opinion, one of the chief sanitary needs
of the Borough at the present time.
Insanitary or Uninhabitable Dwellings.
The following is a list of dwellings that were found, during
the year, to be so insanitary as to require extensive structural alterations
to make them reasonably fit for human habitation. It will be
seen that in nearly every case the premises were stable dwellings.
The close domestic proximity of horses and human beings in stable
dwellings is not conducive to health, and it is only by the observance
of certain conditions that these places can be made tolerable. Fortunately,
however, the introduction of motor vehicles is gradually
freeing Hampstead of many of these sources of nuisance and
ill-health.