View report page

43
Underground Room Regulations.
Section 18 of the Housing Act, 1925 (now section 12 (2) of the Housing Act, 1936) states that
a room, the surface of the floor of which is more than 3 feet below the surface of the street adjoining
or more than 3 feet below the surface of any ground within 9 feet of the room shall be deemed to
be unfit for habitation if either—
(a) the average height of the room from floor to ceiling is not at least 7 feet ; or
(b) the room does not comply with regulations made by the local authority for securing
proper ventilation and lighting, and protection against dampness and effluvia.
The regulations in force at the beginning of 1936 had been made by the council under the
Housing and Town Planning Act, 1909, and had not been revised since 1913.
As recent Acts have amended the law in regard to underground rooms, the council decided to
revise their underground room regulations, and a new set was submitted to the Minister of Healtfy
during the year. He gave his approval in September last, and copies are now available at the
Town Hall for owners who are interested.
Town Planning Applications—Underground Rooms.
During the year the London county council, being the town planning authority for the
metropolis, commenced to make it a condition of approval to the conversion of existing houses into
flats, etc., that the borough council must be satisfied in regard to the proposed use of underground
rooms.
Eleven applications arose in which underground rooms were found not to comply with the
regulations. All these cases were in respect of large well-constructed houses in South Kensington
where to a great extent the subsoil is of gravel, sand, or other normally dry material.
Notwithstanding the absence of evidence of dampness it was decided that the rooms should
be closed unless they fully complied with the council's underground room regulations. Upon the
application of the owners, however, permission was granted in some cases to use the rooms for
prescribed domestic purposes.
Uvercrowding.
Under the Housing Act, 1936, a dwelling house is deemed to be overcrowded when the number
of persons sleeping in the house either :—
(a) is such that any two of those persons, being ten years old or more, of opposite sexes and not
being persons living together as husband and wife, must sleep in the same room ; or
(b) is, in relation to the number and floor area of the rooms in the house, in excess of the
permitted number of persons as defined in the fifth schedule of the Act.
A child under one year is not counted, and a child between the ages of one and ten years is
regarded as half a unit.
The following is the schedule referred to under heading (b) :—
The expression " the permitted number of persons" means, in relation to any
dwelling-house, either—
(a) the number specified in the second column of Table I in the annex hereto in relation
to a house consisting of the number of rooms of which that house consists ; or,
(b) the aggregate for all the rooms in the house obtained by reckoning, for each room
therein of the floor area specified in the first column of Table II in the annex hereto,
the number specified in the second column of that table in relation to that area,
whichever is the less—
provided that in computing for the purposes of the said Table I the number of rooms in
a house, no regard shall be had to any room having a floor area of less than 50 square feet.

This standard replaces that hitherto in application under by-laws for houses let in lodgings,
and, furthermore, it applies to every house occupied by the working-classes ; but it does not apply