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Housing Inspection
House to house inspections were continued in the Greyhound Road Study Area. During the year 437
properties in this area were inspected and classified for report in the Greyhound Road (east) report dated 5th
June 1972 and the Greyhound Road (west) interim report dated 22nd August 1972. Inspections were still
proceeding in this western area at the close of the year.
Inspections were also carried out in the Moore Park Road General Improvement Area and, to a lesser
extent, in the Masbro Road General Improvement Area, in order to encourage as much improvement of the
houses in these areas as possible. In the Moore Park Road area a procedure was adopted whereby warning
letters were sent to the owners of unimproved properties indicating that the Council were prepared to use their
powers of compulsory purchase in General Improvement Areas if improvements were not put in hand in the
immediate future. This procedure has resulted in considerable response.
In addition to the work in the Programmed Study Areas and the General Improvement Areas, a quick
survey was carried out in the Crisp Road Area as a G.L.C. site had become available and it was felt that if there
were a sufficient number of linked unfit houses in the immediate vicinity, clearance/procedure could be
considered. This did not prove to be the case but the information gained will prove useful in the wider context
of the Fulham Reach Study.
In June, two Compulsory Purchase Orders were made in relation to 36 unfit properties in Greyhound Road
and Chelmsford Street and were subsequently submitted to the Department of the Environment for
confirmation.
During the year I Closing Order was made with regard to a part of a dwelling; none was made relating to
whole houses and I was determined. Also during the year I demolition order was made and the house was
demolished.
During August, in repsonse to the Government's request for housing surveys to be carried out and for local
authorities to formulate housing strategies designed to eliminate sub-standard housing during the next 10
years, a sample survey of the Borough was carried out in order to establish the number of unfit and substandard
houses. The information obtained did not add greatly to local knowledge of conditions in the
Borough but did confirm the figures previously obtained in the Borough housing study and the G.L.C. house
condition survey of 1967, it being shown that there are some 17,000 sub-standard properties requiring positive
treatment by means of redevelopment or improvement.
Inspections of houses in multiple occupation in Study Areas, General Improvement Areas and also in those
areas of high density occupation programmed for such action have proceeded throughout the year but, due to
the priority given to other work the volume of inspections did not reach that of previous years when other
commitments were less demanding. A policy is being pursued of limiting the occupation of multi-occupied
houses by making Direction Orders with an eventual fall in occupation and improvement of the houses to
form self-contained dwellings having full amenities. Multiple occupation will continue but the evils attaching
thereto of inadequate and shared facilities, coupled with gross overcrowding should gradually be eliminated.
Some sixty Direction Orders were made during the year in this connection.
Towards the end of the year the practice of carrying out works in default relating to Notices under Section
16, Housing Act, 1961 (provision of means of escape in case of fire from houses in multiple occupation) was
instituted and thirty three such cases were forwarded for such action. It is, however, anticipated that due to the
already heavy commitments of the Direct Labour Building Organisation, considerable delay will necessarily
arise in the completion of these works. Due to this it is expected that the matter will be reviewed in 1973 to
ascertain whether such work should be carried out by outside contractors.
One Control Order was made during the year in connection with a multi occupied house in appalling
condition, the Council taking over the property and rehousing the tenants prior to implementing a scheme of
rehabilitation.In the event the property was subsequently acquired by the Council and the Control Order
procedure lapsed. Three Management Orders were made on houses where parts of the houses in common use
were in such condition as to warrant this action.

The assessment of applications for Improvement Grants has formed a considerable part of the department's
work. During the year 799 Improvement Grant applications were processed and 939 were recommended tor
approval. The latter figure is higher due to applications received in the preceding year being processed during
1972.
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