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annum to £40. These provisions apply only to lettings made after
3rd December, 1909, and do not apply to any tenancies, weekly or
otherwise, created before the Act. Such tenancies are, however,
subject to similar obligations under Sec. 75 of the principal Act
when the rents are within the limits therein specified.
Secs. 14-15 of the Act of 1909 impose on the landlord the
obligation to have the house at the beginning of, and throughout
the term of the tenancy, "in all respects reasonably fit for human
habitation." This obligation is wider in its scope than the definition
in the Closing Order sections, and extends to the condition of the
floors, staircases, roofs and walls. Under these sections the landlord
would apparently be liable to the tenant for injuries arising
from defective floors and staircases, defective and leaky rooms, as
well as from nuisances within the Public Health Acts.
It is important to note that the obligation is on the "landlord,"
as defined in Sec. 15 (7), and not on the "owner," as defined in the
Public Health Act. This may give rise to a difficulty in fixing
the responsible persons in the event of the Sanitary Authority
taking action under Sec. 15, as under such circumstances it may be
found that the "landlord" is himself only a weekly tenant who
sub-lets and who is incapable of recouping the Authority any
expenses incurred by them in putting the property into proper order.
The Council's Solicitor will, however, fully deal with the legal details
in his report, so that it is only necessary for me in this report to
refer thus briefly to the administrative difficulties which may arise
in carrying out the provisions of this part of the Act.
(Signed) G. Quin Lennane,
Medical Officer oj Health.
APPENDIX.
[Copy.]
REGULATIONS AS TO UNDERGROUND ROOMS HABITUALLY
USED AS SLEEPING PLACES.
Whereas by Sec. 17 of the Housing, Town Planning, &c., Act,
1909, it is enacted as follows:—
Sub-Section 7.—A room habitually used as a sleeping place,
the surface of the floor of which is more than three feet below
the surface of the part of the street adjoining, or nearest to
the rooms, shall, for the purposes of this Section, be deemed to
be a dwelling house so dangerous or injurious to health as to be
unfit for human habitation if the room either—
(a) Is not on an average at least seven feet in height from
floor to ceiling; or,