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In computing the number of rooms in a house, no regard is to be
had to any room having a floor area of less than 50 square feet, or
which is of a type not normally used in the locality either as a living
room or as a bedroom. No account is to be taken of a child under
one year old, and a child who has attained the age of one year but is
under ten years of age is to be reckoned as one-half of a unit.
After a date to be fixed by the Minister the occupier or landlord
of a dwelling-house who causes or permits it to be overcrowded is to
be liable to penalties. The standard, however, is not to operate as
regards existing overcrowding or overcrowding due to increase in the
number of children or their increasing age, unless the occupier is
offered " suitable alternative accommodation." It will be the duty of
the local authority, which alone is authorised to institute a prosecution,
to enforce the standard and consequently to offer to the overcrowded
family suitable alternative accommodation.
The number of persons in Hampstead living more than two to a
room at the 1931 Census was 3,253. The average size of private
families (persons) in the Borough was then ascertained to be 332.
These figures would appear, therefore, to indicate that approximately
a further 500 dwellings are required immediately.
Improper Mixing of Sexes.
The tenement house Bye-laws provide for the " separation of the
sexes " so that, " as far as practicable, a person shall not cause, or
knowingly permit, persons of different sexes above the age of 12 years,
and not being persons living together as husband and wife, to occupy
the same sleeping apartment."
The total number of cases reported by the Sanitary Inspectors
and remaining unabated at the commencement of the year was 15.
During the year, a further 30 cases were reported, making a total of
45, of which further inspection shows that 3 have since been abated.
Underground Rooms Illegally Occupied.
The required standard to which underground rooms must con—
form if separately occupied is prescribed in the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, Section 96, and if used separately for sleeping
purposes, in the Regulations made by the Borough Council under the
Housing Act, 1909.