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Section 17 also provides that where on the representation of the Medical Officer of Health any
house appears to be in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation,
it shall be the duty of the Council to make an order closing the house. When a closing
order has been made it then becomes the duty of the owner to render the house fit for human habitation,
and if he fails to do so the house must be demolished by the Council. The obligations of
landlords and owners respectively under Sections 15 and 17 are as follows :—If a landlord receives
notice from the Council that a house is not in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation
he can adopt one of the three following courses: —
(a) He can himself execute the necessary work.
(b) He can refuse, when the Council are empowered to do the work and charge him with the
cost, which he can pay in annual instalments extending over 5 years, or,
(c) He can avoid all further liability by evicting his tenants and declaring the house to be
closed.
If he adopts the latter course, it will then fall to the owner to decide whether he will execute
the necessary work or leave the house to be demolished by the Council.
Owner Defined.—For the purposes of Section 17 and other Sections deemed to be part of
Part II. of the principal Act, Section 49 (2) provides that the expression owner shall include all
lessees except those who hold premises under a lease of which the original term was less than 21
years (vide Sections 47 and 49 Housing Act, 1909).
Section 18 supersedes Section 33 of the principal Act, and provides that demolition shall
in every case follow the closing of a dwelling house unless steps are taken to render it fit for
habitation. The demolition of a house which has been closed and has remained unfit for human
habitation cannot under any circumstances be deferred for a period exceeding 9 months, and if
at the end of the first three months after the making of a closing order no undertaking is given
by the owner for the execution of the necessary work, it becomes the duty of the Council to demolish
the house forthwith.
Section35 exempts from Inhabited House Duty any house occupied for the sole purpose of
letting lodgings to the working classes at a charge of not more than sixpence a night, provided a
certificate is furnished by the Medical Officer of Health to the effect that suitable accommodation
is available for the lodgers and that due provision is made for their sanitary requirements.
LONDON (GENERAL POWERS) ACTS.
The London County Council (General Powers) Acts, 1907-8-9, contain important requirements
as to tenement houses.
Water Supply.—Section 78 of the 1907 Act is retrospective, and requires a supply of water to be
provided on each storey of a tenement house, unless it can be shown that such a supply is not
reasonably necessary.
Cooking Stoves.—Section 7 of the 1908 Act requires suitable accommodation for cooking to be
provided in tenement houses for the use of each family. The Section is not retrospective.
Storage of Food.—Section 16 of the 1909 Act requires suitable accommodation for the storage
of food to be provided on one of the storeys occupied by each family "in a tenement house. The
Section is not retrospective.