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42
In 1960 the Council decided to make representations to the
Metropolitan Boroughs' Standing Joint Committee for improvements in
the legislation. Further, the Council sent a deputation to the
Minister of Housing and Local Government. The problem was recognised
by the Government, and on 24th November, 1961 a new Housing Act came
into operation providing extensive new powers for dealing with bad
living conditions in houses let in lodgings or occupied by members of
more than one family. (It also makes a number of changes in the law
affecting condemned houses, improvement grants, town development and
housing subsidies.)
The new Act provides most of the powers for which the Council
were pressing. They fall into four main groups as follows:-
(i) An entirely new power to apply a code of management to
individual houses in which proper standards of management
have not been observed. The requirements of this
code are prescribed in the Housing (Management of Houses
in Multiple Occupation) Regulations, 1962 which come
into operation on 22nd May, 1962.
(ii) Stronger powers to require the provision of additional
facilities and amenities essential to decent living
conditions, and the provision of adequate means of
escape from fire. These replaced and extended
similar powers formerly exercisable under Section 36
of the Housing Act, 1957.
(iii) A new power for local authorities to carry out works
themselves in default and recover the cost.
(iv) A power, also new, to make a direction limiting the
number of persons who may live in a house, or part
of a house, which is in multiple occupation.
The new powers are designed to deal primarily with the worst
type of multi-occupied house where nothing less than strong action is
likely to achieve results.
The new Regulations mentioned in (i) above were laid before
Parliament on 5"th April, 1962 and at the time of writing the Public
Health Committee are taking steps to implement their provisions in
cases of tenement houses which have been the subject of bad management
for many years.
Part I deals with their application and interpretation,
Part II prescribes the duties of management to be discharged by the
manager of the house, and Part III deals with ancillary requirements
including the provision of information. It also places certain
obligations on occupants for the purpose of ensuring that the manager
can effectively carry out his duties.
Responsibility for management will rest on an owner or
lessee who receives the rents or other payments from tenants or
lodgers, including any agent or trustee through whom the rents are
received.
The main substance of the code of management is contained
in Part II of the Regulations which deals with the manager's responsibilities
for repair and maintenance. Broadly, these responsibilities
amount to ensuring the repair (including reasonable decorative repair),
cleanliness and good order of the parts of the house in common use;
the proper maintenance throughout the house of installations for basic
services, such as water supply, drainage, gas and electricity; the
repair and good order of all means of ventilation and means of escape
from fire. The manager is also required to ensure an adequate
provision of refuse bins and to take reasonable precautions to