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(4) Improvements in Mews Dwellings.
On the completion of the work in connection with houses let in lodgings referred to in the
preceding item, each of the ten District Sanitary Inspectors commenced the work of inspecting
and bringing up to standard ten mews dwellings per month. The number of mews dwellings in
the Borough is 2,091 and the following table shows the number of inspections of these made in
each Sanitary Inspector's district from April, 1925, when the work was commenced, to the end
of the year, together with the number of notices served calling for repairs, etc.:—
District.
Individual Mews
Dwellings inspected
during the year (April
to December).
Number of
Intimation Notices
served.
1 56 35
2 21 20
3 77 29
4 54 39
5 55 39
6 54 25
7 74 31
8 68 7
9 81 39
10 64 36
Totals 604 300
This work is being continued but will shortly be completed as far as is necessary, for many of
the mews dwellings, particularly those in South Kensington, remaining uninspected are in satisfactory
condition or have been converted in recent years into small private houses which are let at
good rentals to people of the professional and semi-professional classes and do not call for the same
detailed inspection as is needed in the case of those mews dwellings occupied by the poorer classes.
(5) Closing Orders in respect of Underground Rooms.
An underground room is any room of a house the floor of which room 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.
The Council have adopted a series of regulations under the powers conferred by the Housing
Acts in regard to underground rooms, and in every case where such a room is found to be used for
sleeping purposes and does not comply with these regulations, an Underground Room Closing Order
is issued.

* In these two cases where Closing Orders were not made effective, the occupants have been promised accommodation
at an early date on one of the London County Council Estates and they are being allowed to remain in their present rooms
until able to move to their new homes When the underground rooms are vacated, they will not be allowed to be used
again for sleeping purposes, and the Closing Orders will thus become effective.
The real difficulty in dealing with underground or basement rooms arises from the fact that
many of the occupants cannot afford more satisfactory accommodation. It is thus important that
these rooms should be made to comply as far as possible with the Council's regulations in order