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in any borough until the " appointed day " has been fixed by the Minister, and in the interval the
old standards remain in operation.
The " appointed day " has not been fixed for the country as a whole, but it is determined for
each area by the Minister after he has considered the housing resources of the local authority for
that area, and the number of cases of overcrowding found in the district by the survey undertaken
in the latter part of 1935.
In Kensington the overcrowding survey revealed the existence of 2,529 cases of overcrowding
under the new standard, and in May, 1936, the council appointed a small deputation to confer with
the London county council with a view to obtaining some definite indication of the latter's proposals
for meeting the demand for housing accommodation which will be occasioned by the abatement
of this amount of overcrowding.
Following this conference, the county council, as the authority for framing proposals for the
provision of new houses for the abatement of overcrowding under the Housing Act, intimated
that they would support the proposal that the " appointed day " for Kensington should be
1st January, 1937. Accordingly, an appropriate application was made to the Minister, and in due
course the " appointed day " was fixed for the 1st January, 1937.
Overcrowding which exists on the " appointed day " is not an offence unless alternative
accommodation is refused, but overcrowding arising for the first time after this day is illegal.

There were 2,342 overcrowded families out of a total of 19,770 surveyed in North Kensington,
and 187 cases out of a total of 4,526 families in South Kensington.
During the year the council, aided by the various housing associations operating in the borough
and the London county council, have made an attempt to reduce the overcrowding, but as the
new standard did not operate until the 1st January, 1937, efforts were confined to overcrowding
existing in borough council property and houses owned by the associations. This limitation was
necessary, because, if the council abated overcrowding in privately-owned houses, they had no
adequate power to prevent a recurrence until after the " appointed day." As a result of this
precaution no case has come to notice of a house being decrowded and subsequently becoming
overcrowded.
The following statement is required to be furnished under the Sanitary Officers (London)
Regulations, 1935 :—
(a) the estimated number of families overcrowded at the end of
the year 2,428 (11,251 units)
(b) the number of new cases of overcrowding reported 14 (71£ units)
(c) the number of cases of overcrowding relieved 115 (606f units)
(d) the number of cases in which dwelling houses in respect of which
the local authority have taken steps for the abatement of overcrowding have again become overcrowded) Nil
As far as Kensington is concerned, Section 6 of the Housing Act, 1935, (now Section 62 of the
Housing Act, 1936) provided that within six months of 1st July, 1936, every rent book or similar
document used in connection with a " dwelling house " must contain the following information :—
(1) After the 1st day of January, 1937, an occupier who causes or permits his dwelling
to be overcrowded is liable to prosecution for an offence under the Housing Act, 1936,
and, if convicted, to a fine not exceeding five pounds. Any part of a house which
is occupied by a separate family is a " dwelling."
(2) A dwelling is overcrowded if the number of persons sleeping in it is more than the
" permitted number," or is such that two or more of those persons, being ten years
old or over, of opposite sexes (not being persons living together as husband and wife)
must sleep in the same room.
(3) The " permitted number " for the dwelling to which this (Rent Book) ( )
relates is persons. In counting the number of persons each child under ten
years of age counts as half a person, and a child of less than one year is not counted
at all.