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In Part III of the Regulations a general obligation is
placed on occupants to take reasonable care not to hinder the manager
in carrying out his duties.
Regulation 14 requires the manager to display in a suitable
position in the house a notice containing his name and address and
that of any other manager with an indication of his interest (i.e.
agent or trustee), a copy of the Management Order, a copy of the
Regulations and, if the local authority require, a notice which the
authority may provide for indicating briefly the main provisions of
the Regulations.
The Regulations do not stand in isolation, and they must
be taken together with existing powers under the Housing Act, 1957,
and the new powers contained in the 1961 Act relating to the provision
of additional services and facilities and the prevention or
reduction of overcrowding. It is likely that there will be houses
where Orders applying a code of management, prescribed in the Regulations,
will be all that are necessary to bring about an improvement in
conditions. In others, the reason for the unsatisfactory state of
affairs will be not so much bad management as lack of essential
facilities. To put this right, a local authority can require the
necessary work to be done and, where need be, link the notice of works
with a direction limiting the number of occupants in a house. In
the very worst type of houses conditions may be so bad that, to effect
any real improvement, it will be necessary to take action at one and
the same time to secure better management, additional facilities, and
a limitation on the number of occupants.
The premises affected vary considerably, and render impracticable
the provision of a single rigid code of requirements
applicable to all cases. However, the Council on 29th May, 1962,
adopted certain minimum requirements as standards of essential services
and amenities. These were given in detail in my reports for 1962
and have been recommended for adoption throughout London by the
Metropolitan Boroughs' Standing Joint Committee.
Plan of Action
In January, 1963, the Medical Officer of Health reported to
the Public Health Committee on the improvement of houses and, inter
alia, referred to areas of properties which are up to 100 years old
where the property is either unsuitable or not worth converting.
These areas are shown on a map coloured pink and include a total of
1,436 properties.
The best long term solution for these properties is demolition
and redevelopment, but the existing slum clearance commitments of
the Council will prevent them from undertaking this for many years.
The properties consist predominantly of houses in multiple occupation.
The joint meeting of the Public Health Committee and Housing
and Town Planning Committee therefore recommended that as a short term
policy the provisions of Part II of the Housing Act, 1961, relating
to houses in multiple occupation should be applied to these areas as
soon as possible, and that additional staff should be engaged and
additional office accommodation provided. The aim was to deal with
the 1,436 houses within three years, and to do this it was decided to
engage four additional technical assistants working under the
direction of two qualified public health inspectors. In view of the
substantial increase in administrative and clerical work it was
decided to engage one senior clerk and two shorthand typists.