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Houses Let in Lodgings. —The number of houses let in lodgings on the Council's register
at the end of the year was 2,094, as compared with 2,091 at the end of 1911, the increase being
due to the addition of three houses in the Princes Road. The effect of registration is to render
the premises subject to the requirements of the Council's Bye-Laws made under Section 94 of
the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, as extended by Section 16 of the Housing, Town Planning,
etc., Act, 1909, with respect to houses intended for the working classes, and let in lodgings or
cccupied by members of more than one family. The mode of letting which may be held to justify
registration has not been defined in any Act of Parliament. When the landlord who lets the
lodgings resides on the premises no difficulty arises. The status of a house when the landlord
does not reside has been defined by the following legal decision: "An ordinary six-roomed house,
not specially constructed to be let in separate tenements, having one common internal staircase
and one front door, each floor of which is let to and occupied by a separate family, the landlord
living elsewhere, and only attending once a week to collect rents, is a house let in lodgings within
the meaning of Section 94." The decision is worth quoting because it aptly describes the majority
of the lodging houses in Kensington which are regulated by the Council's Bye-Laws, and indicates
the unsatisfactory nature of the accommodation which is directly due to the fact that these houses
are " not specially constructed to be let in separate tenements." A block of artizan's dwellings,
on the other hand, where the landlord does not reside, and which is divided into tenements, each
of which is occupied by one family, is not a house let in lodgings, and is not controlled by the
Council's Bye-Laws.
Inspection. -The inspections and re-inspections of the registered lodging houses in the
Borough numbered 8,704. Notices requiring the remedy of defects found were served in 1,236
instances, and 75 cases of overcrowding were abated. The owners of six lodging houses were
summoned for failing to comply with notices requiring the execution of drainage work or other
sanitary repairs, and five further summonses were taken out for various breaches of the lodging
house bye-laws.
Furnished Rooms.—Of the 2,094 lodging houses on the Council's Register, 187 are let
in furnished rooms, the rent charged being at the rate of Is. per room for one night, or 6s. for a
complete week. A complete list of the furnished lodging houses in the Borough will be found in
Table XII., Appendix p. 90.
The following Table shows that no less than 143 houses out of the total number are situated
in the Norland Ward, whilst 110, if those in Portland Road and Talbot Grove be excepted, are
grouped on a comparatively small site in the Notting Dale neighbourhood and in close proximity
to 18 houses which are licensed and let as common lodging houses. The Portland Road, which
contains 24 houses, may be regarded as within the influence of Notting Dale. The 24 houses in
the Bolton Road area constitute a separate and entirely isolated centre, as do four houses in the
Treverton Street area, and five houses in Blechynden Street, which are let by the keeper
of a common lodging house in Kensal Road. In the absence of precise information, the date when
these new centres were established must be left for the present undetermined, and further it must
be clearly understood that the figures in the Table for the year 1897 are taken from reports which
related to Notting Dale only, and which neither stated nor implied that furnished lodging houses
were in this year limited to what was then known as the special area. At the same time it is very
generally held that the reduction of the number of furnished houses in Notting Dale by 56,
which resulted from the purchase by Miss Octavia Hill and by the Council of a large number of
such houses in St. Katherine's Road and Kenley Street prior to the year 1907, led to an extension
of the furnished room trade into other parts of the Borough.
Between the year 1907 and 1913, the total number of furnished lodging houses in the Borough
has increased by 18. With the exception of three houses in the Talbot Grove at the north-east
corner of the Norland Ward, no-fresh districts have been invaded, whilst the total increase is
nearly wholly accounted for by the conversion of 15 houses in the same Ward of Norland, from
unfurnished into furnished tenements, and of this number 9 are in the Portland Road. The only
other street in which there has been a notable addition to the numbers is the Bolton Road, where
the furnished houses have been increased by five, from 16 to 21. The Table shows a decrease in
the total number of rooms which are let furnished, but these results should be accepted with some
reserve. In a considerable number of cases furnished and unfurnished rooms may be found in
the same house. The returns for 1907 show the "number of occupied rooms," without any other
distinction, in houses where furnished lodgings were let, and it is not clear that unfurnished lodgings
may not in certain instances have been included in the figures for that year which the Table
contains. On the whole the results up to date need not be regarded as serious, but it is to be
feared that in the absence of fresh legislation or a new interpretation of the existing law, the greater
number of the houses in Portland Road and Princes Road may at no distant date come to be
let in furnished lodgings, even if the evil does not spread to other districts.