View report page

53
when tenants have gone to municipal houses or to houses owned by voluntary housing associations,
the Borough Council would be justified in taking stringent measures in the event of overcrowding
being allowed to arise in the vacated rooms. They therefore gave instructions in 1928 that, on
receipt of information that a new house has been allocated to a Kensington family, not only should
the Council's officers continue to use their efforts to secure the best possible use of the vacated rooms,
but that a communication should be sent to the person in control warning him that the Council would
take action at once if he allowed overcrowding to occur.
The rooms in which there has been a change of occupation are kept under close watch by the
Council's sanitary inspectors and so far there has been no instance where fresh overcrowding has
been noted. This is due not only to the close watch kept by the sanitary inspectors, but to the
full measure of co-operation on the part of persons in control, which the officers of the Council have
been able to secure.
FITNESS OF HOUSES.
Work under Section 3 of the Housing Act, 1925, and Section 17 of the Housing Act, 1930.
There is no doubt that the work which has in recent years been productive of the best results
in dealing with defective houses is that which the Council have carried out under Section 3 of the
Housing Act, 1925, and Section 17 of the Housing Act, 1930, (the latter section replaced Section 3
in August, 1930).
It will be remembered that in the Summer of 1929 it was resolved to employ a special clerk
in the Public Health Department to enable more rapid progress to be made with this class of work.
The clerk commenced work in August, 1929, and a general speeding-up in the service of Section 3
notices resulted. At the end of 1929, however, it was found that the careful checking of schedules
of repairs, the numerous interviews with owners and the daily supervision of the repair work in
progress had proved a greater task than had been contemplated and it appeared that the work
might have to be curtailed. To prevent this, the Council, early in 1930, decided to appoint a temporary
sanitary inspector to take charge of one of the districts in order to allow an experienced
officer to devote the whole of his time to work under Section 3 of the Housing Act, 1925. This
officer commenced work in May, 1930.
The following table gives a statement of the action taken and the results obtained during the
twelve months ended 31st December, 1930 :—
No. of notices served in 1929 under Section 3 of the Housing Act, 1925,
which were outstanding on January 1st, 1930 75
No. of notices served under Section 3 of the Housing Act, 1925, from
January to August, 1930 120
No. of notices served under Section 17 of the Housing Act, 1930, from
August to December, 1930 68
No. of appeals by owners to the Minister of Health in respect of Section 3
notices 2
No. of appeals by owners to the County Court in respect of Section 17
notices Nil.
No. of notices satisfactorily complied with by owners 180
No. of cases in which the Council carried out the repairs in default of owners 9
No. of notices in respect of which satisfactory progress was being made
on the 31st December, 1930 63
No. of notices in respect of which nothing had been done at the end of the
year (the time allowed had not expired in these cases) 10
No. of cases in which the Council's contractors were engaged in executing
repairs in default of owners at the end of the year 1
Total expenditure incurred by the Council in executing repairs £ s. d
during the year 803 10 0
Amount recovered by the Council in respect of work carried out by
them during the year 109 7 7
Balance owing to the Council at the end of the year in respect of
work carried out by them during the year 694 2 5
The Council first commenced this class of work in 1920, but owing to the difficulties experienced
in other boroughs they proceeded very cautiously, and up to the 31st December, 1929, they had
dealt with only 242 houses. In the earlier years, owing to uncertainty as to the attitude the Courts
would adopt on appeals, the Council hesitated to carry out the work in default of the owner, but
in the last two or three years they have enforced the execution of every notice served. The total
expenditure since 1920 in carrying out work in default of owners has been £3,136 10s., and the
total amount (capital and interest) recovered to date has been £1,935 15s. 2d. With the exception
of a small interest debt of £2 which was waived, the remaining outstanding sum continues to be a
charge upon the repaired premises and, together with interest, is being collected by the Council,
Thus, so far the Council have not incurred any financial loss in this work with the exception of the
small item of £2 which they voluntarily cancelled.