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During 1963, 7 certificates of Habitation under Section 95 of
the Public Health (London) Act 1936 were issued.
Conversions and Improvements:
Since the inception of the improvement and standard grants
schemes, only two major property owning companies have taken the
opportunity of improving their dwellings with the aid of Council grants.
Practically all the grants in the two categories have been made to
these two owners. Comparatively little of theolder property inthe
Borough has therefore been reconstructed or had the five standard
amenities provided.
It is known that improvement grants have been made by the London
County Council to a certain Housing Trust.
Following the Circular from the Minister of Housing and Local
Government in the latter part of 1962, the Council considered how best
to encourage the improvement of houses. As a result, a suitable
letter was sent in March 1963 to the 28 largest property owners in
the Borough offering assistance by way of grant for the purpose of
improving dwellings A copy of the Ministry's pamphlet was enclosed
which describes the two types of grant - discretionary and standard.
An offer was made to supply further information or discuss the implications
of the Scheme in relation to any particular property,
In May, letters were sent to some 17 other owners, including a
few owner/occupiers, of individual houses in the Borough, which it
was believed were suitable for improvement.
The response to these efforts was most disappointing and I am at
a loss to suggest any further steps that could profitably be undertaken
to encourage owners to avail themselves of the Grants Scheme.
The main difficulties preventing greater use of the grants scheme
appear to be over-occupation of premises, lack of room for additional
amenities, refusal of tenants to accept improvements, the inability
of landlords to decant tenants in order to carry out improvements,
the lack of capital particularly of owners of individual houses, and
insufficient financial inducement generally,
For the record, during 1963, the Council approved one application
for a standard grant and one for a discretionary grant in respect of
private houses. In addition, it approved both standard and discretionary
grants to enable the owners to modernise a block of 35 flats.