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There are in the Borough 13,095 basements used for dwelling purposes. The number of these
dwellings with ceilings at or below the street level is approximately 648, the number in which the
width of the front area does not exceed three feet is 1,233, and the number in which the width of the
front area exceeds three feet and does not exceed four feet is 2,087.

Two houses, Nos. 34 and 36, Sirdar Road, which constituted one common lodging house
with accommodation for 45 women, were purchased by the Improved Tenements Association in
1926, and are now being converted into tenement houses. This common lodging house was unquestionably
the most unsatisfactory in the Borough and one of the poorest in London; and its
acquisition by the Improved Tenements Association constituted a valuable public health improvement
in the Notting Dale area.
BY-LAWS FOR HOUSES LET IN LODGINGS.
There came into operation on March 5th, 1926, a new series of by-laws for houses let in
lodgings, which rescinded those which had been in force for many years previously. They are a
distinct advance on the old code and will be of much value to the Council in securing even better
results than those noted in recent years. The clauses of the new by-laws under which the Council
can require considerable structural alterations so as to provide more satisfactory lavatory and
washing accommodation and accommodation for the storage, preparation and cooking of food, do
not come into operation until six months after the Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Acts
and continuing enactments thereof cease to be in force.
The new by-laws have made a very important amendment in the definition of a " house let in
lodgings." Hitherto, any house which was occupied by members of more than one family of the
working classes came within the scope of the by-laws, but under the new code a house will not be
regarded as let in lodgings if the tenant resides in the premises and not more than two persons in
addition to the tenant and his family lodge therein. In other words, a tenant renting the whole
house can accept two lodgers without the dwelling becoming subject to the by-laws.
Further, the Minister of Health, in his Certificate of Confirmation of the by-laws, added a
rider that they should not apply to any house in which the tenant resides and not more than one
family is lodged. This Certificate of Confirmation by the Minister excludes from the category of
a house let in lodgings a dwelling which has been let wholly to one tenant who has sublet one or
more rooms to not more than one family. This exception does not apply to a house in which the
owner lets part to one family and part to another.
The effect of the altered definition of "house let in lodgings" and the qualification to that
definition added by the Minister is that approximately five hundred houses will have to be
removed from the Council's Register of houses let in lodgings. This estimate is a rough one,
for it is impossible to give accurate figures without paying a visit to all houses registered.
The definition of "owner" in the new by-laws is the same as that of "landlord" in the old
code with the important proviso that where the premises are let without the consent in writing or
connivance of the owner so as to bring them within the scope of the by-laws, the tenant responsible
for the sub-letting will be required to carry out the obligations of the owner thereunder.
The Public Health Committee have in the past received from owners a large number of objections
to registration and to the execution of works under the by-laws, which have been based on
the ground that the tenant has sublet without the owner's consent and that such tenant and not the
owner is the person benefiting by the subletting. The Council have not hitherto possessed
the power to enforce the tenant to carrv out certain repairs in such circumstances, but when the
owner is now able to prove that he has not consented to or connived at the subletting, he will be
relieved of responsibilities under the by-laws.