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72
In recent proceedings, following a closing order
made by a neighbouring Authority, ten houses in a
certain Court were included. The owners appealed to
the Local Government Board with reference to five of
them and the Board confirmed the closing order as to
four of the houses but allowed the appeal as to the
fifth. I took the opportunity of inspecting these houses,
as an object lesson, and the opinion I formed was that
there could be absolutely no doubt as to the four, and
as to the fifth that the standard of the Local Government
Board Inspector was a somewhat low one;
moreover, the allowing of this fifth house to stand holds
up any effectual rebuilding scheme.
Contract with tenant under Section 14
It was hoped that a much higher standard of
repair would have resulted from what was generally
understood to be an implied contract between the
owner and his tenant as to the repair and upkeep of
premises under the provisions of this section. Recent
litigation goes to show that this contract is strictly
limited to the actual tenant and does not apply to other
persons occupying the premises; hence the improvement
to be looked for would appear to be very limited.
Brady Street Unhealthy Area.
As foreshadowed in my Annual Report for the year
1911, I made a formal representation to the London
County Council in April, under Part I of the Housing,
Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909. The formal document
was accompanied by a coloured plan, tables of statistics,
and the following explanatory letter:—