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a room, the floor of which is more than three feet below the surface of
the footway of the adjoining street, or of the ground adjoining or
nearest, to the room. An underground room that is not occupied in
conjunction with a room on any other floor of the same house must
comply with certain conditions that are set out in detail in the Act; it
must, for instance, be sufficiently protected against damp, properly
lighted and ventilated, and provided with a fireplace with a proper
chimney or flue, &c. An underground room that does not comply with
these requirements is illegally occupied. During 1909 special attention
was paid to the inspection of underground rooms, and 82 were found to
be illegally occupied. These rooms were situated in the following
streets:—
Belsize Lane Mill Lane
Canfield Gardens Netherwood Street
Fitzjohn's Avenue Palmerston Road
Fleet Road Quex Road
Gardnor Road Heath Villas, Vale of Health
Maygrove Road West End Lane.
Of these rooms, 35 were altered to comply with the Public Health
Act, and 14 were in process of alteration at the end of the year; 10
were vacated, and in 23 cases the tenants were able to occupy a room
on an upper floor in conjunction with the underground rooms, which in
this way were removed from the operation of the Act. In 4 cases it
was found necessary to take legal proceedings to enforce compliance
with the Act. In each case the defendant was convicted and fined.
The powers of sanitary authorities in relation to underground rooms
are greatly strengthened by section 17, sub-section 7, of the Housing,
Town Planning, &c., Act, 1909. This sub-section, which does not
come into operation until July 1st, 1910, enables the sanitary authority
to close an underground room that is habitually used as a sleeping place,
unless the room is on an average at least seven feet high, and complies
with the regulations which the sanitary authority are empowered to
make for securing the proper sanitary condition of such rooms. This
new power will be found useful in certain parts where there are many
underground rooms, which, although used as sleeping places, are occupied
with rooms on upper floors, and are, therefore, exempt from the special
requirements for underground rooms in the Public Health Act.