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and. drab. These parts of the houses were seldom swept, with the
result that there was an accumulation of litter. Many of the communal
kitchens presented an even worse appearance, food refuse having been
left about, and little attempt seemed to have been made to clean
stoves, sinks or floors. It was doubtful whether the bathrooms were
much used, probably owing to lack of hot water, and the condition of
many of the water closets indicated lack of normal cleansing.
The method of letting produced a great volume of refuse and
the number of bins needed could not be housed in the small front areas
and cellars. As a result some were kept in the flats and, on
collection day, all were brought down and stacked on the front
entrance steps. Some refuse was thrown out of rear windows into the
areas, where it choked the drains.
Few tenants had rent books or received receipts for their
rents and this question received the attention of the General
Purposes Committee. Subsequently a survey revealed only a few
tenants without rent books, and some of these had neglected to obtain
them.
It was obvious that a social change was taking place which
made tenements of the Powis Terrace houses, and this change had made
more difficult the problems arising from the integration of a coloured
population in the area.
An extensive report on the conditions existing in this group
of terraced houses was submitted to the Council, who gave consideration
to what action could be taken to remedy conditions.
The Council felt it would greatly assist, if legislation
could be introduced to provide that any nuisance notice served were
not invalidated by a change of ownership. Representations to this
effect were made by the Metropolitan Boroughs'1 Standing Joint
Committee, at the instance of this Council, in 1957, but the Minister
then stated that he was very doubtful about the need for amending
legislation to increase the existing powers of local authorities,
especially as enquiries had shown that Kensington was the only authority
affected to any material extent. It was considered that these
representations should be renewed.
It was decided to make representations to the Metropolitan
Boroughs1 Standing Joint Committee to obtain amending legislation to
avoid the delays in procedure arising out of repetitive changes in
ownership of property.
It was also decided to ask the Minister of Housing and
Local Government to receive a deputation from the Council.
The Standing Joint Committee, after consulting constituent
members, felt that further representations could not be supported.
However, the Minister agreed to receive the Council's deputation on
4th October, 1960. The deputation received a sympathetic hearing
from the Minister, who stated he was not satisfied with the present
state of law, but he was not convinced that the proposals of the
Council, in their present form, were the best solution. The Minister
offered to consider other proposals on specific methods of dealing
with the problems.
Negotiations with the Minister's officers were continued
and it is gratifying to report that eventually a new Housing Bill was
issued which included proposed powers to enable local authorities to
remedy and prevent unsatisfactory conditions in houses in multiple
occupation.