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53
Houses let In Lodgings
A register compiled in 1935 consisting of houses which appeared
to be covered by this definition in Byelaws made by the London County
Council was maintained until 1954 when there were entries in relation
to 427 houses. No formal action had, however, been taken since the
war under these Byelaws which were repealed in 1954 by the Housing
Repairs & Rents Act of that year.
Underground Rooms
Before 1939 an endeavour was made when underground rooms became
vacant either to improve them to an extent of compliance with the
Council's Regulations or to voluntarily agree to discontinue their use
for sleeping or living purposes.
At that time this arrangement worked satisfactorily and many
underground rooms ceased to be used for habitation, During the war,
however, many such rooms were reoccupied because of the slightly added
protection they were thought to have against air raid damage, and
after the war when many properties changed ownership, new owners
unaware of or ignoring earlier arrangement, caused a large number of
these rooms to be reoccupied.
Until 1951 it was not felt to be practicable to take measures to
have these and other unsatisfactory underground rooms closed because
of the acute housing shortage that existed
Since 1951, however, closing orders have been made in respect of
the more unsatisfactory underground rooms which were vacant and
appeared likely to be reoccupied and in a few other cases where rehousing
could be arranged or where the closure of the rooms would not
involve overcrowding in the rest of the house, The strict standards
of the regulations, however, have not been followed and representations
have only been made where conditions have been substantially
worse than those required for full compliance
Two prosecutions were instituted in 1954 for the use of basement
rooms in contravention of a closing order, but in no case was this
found necessary in 1955, the occasional case in which such contravention
was discovered was dealt with by informal action Generally
speaking,, closing orders have been respected but adequate Inspection
is difficult.