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to provide better accommodation until housing conditions become easier, when, it is hoped, it will
not be necessary for such a large number of people to occupy basement rooms for sleeping purposes.
It should be remembered that the Closing Orders merely prohibit the use of the basement rooms
for sleeping purposes and do not prevent such rooms being used as kitchens or day rooms. Further
the Council's regulations in regard to basement rooms apply almost exclusively to the front rooms,
for back basement rooms in the majority of cases are not technically underground as the floor is
on a level or nearly on a level with the surface of the back area yard. The Council have no power
to prohibit these back basement rooms being used for sleeping purposes, and, therefore, owners are
often persuaded by the Council's Inspectors to re-arrange the occupation of rooms in tenement
houses so that persons who are living and sleeping in the basement are given sleeping accommodation
upstairs, the basement rooms being reserved entirely for daytime use.
(6) Closing Orders in respect of Houses Unfit for Habitation.
A local authority can prohibit the occupation of a house in a state so dangerous or injurious
to health as to be unfit for human habitation.
In 1923, Closing Orders were made in respect of three houses. One house was subsequently
made fit for occupation by the owner and the other two were purchased by the Improved Tenements
Association and put into a good state of repair.
In 1924, two Closing Orders were issued and both became effective. In due course, the Council
notified the owners that they proposed to consider the question of demolition. In one case the
owner carried out the necessary repairs. In the other, the repairs were commenced, but the house
was re-let before the work had been completed, with the result that the Council took proceedings
for violation of the Closing Order and the owner was fined £5. The house was again closed, and,
after several months when a little more work had been carried out, it was again found to be let; a
further summons was issued early in 1926 and the owner was fined £10.
During 1925, no house was discovered which could not be put into a state of habitable repair
at a reasonable cost, and thus no Closing Orders were called for. There are houses in respect of
which Closing Orders might reasonably have been served in normal times, but in view of the
difficulty of finding accommodation for the displaced tenants, the Council have endeavoured with
a fair amount of success to secure habitable conditions by the full use of all their powers before
resorting to the issue of Closing Orders under Section 17 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act,
1909 or Section 11 of the Housing Act, 1925
(7) Work under Section 28 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act. 1919, and Section 3 of the
Housing Act, 1925.
Section 28 of the 1919 Act (now repealed) provided that if the owner of a house suitable for
the working classes failed to keep it in all respects reasonably fit for habitation, the Council could
require him to execute such works as were necessary. The owner could appeal, and might, in
certain circumstances, close the house ; but if he neither exercised his rights nor carried out the
repairs, the Council could do the work and recover the cost thereof with interest.
Section 28 has been replaced by Section 3 of the Housing Act, 1925, which, in addition to
giving powers similar to those under Section 28, grants to the Council the powers and remedies
of a mortgagee under the Conveyancing Acts, 1881-1922, for the purpose of recovering their expenses.
The new Section also defines the appeals of which an owner may take advantage and prescribes
the times within which they must be made, with the result that certain doubts which existed in
regard to the interpretation of Section 28 have been removed, and the Council are able to feel
much more secure in availing themselves of the powers granted.

The total cost to the Council in carrying out repairs under Section 28 and Section 3 since the
commencement of 1923 has been £895. The amount repaid has been £516, and the remaining sum
of £379, with interest at the rate of 5%, is being recovered.
The number of houses dealt with appears small, but it must be pointed out that the knowledge
that the Council are determined to exercise Section 3 firmly has induced many owners to anticipate
official action by putting their property into a satisfactory condition.