London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London

Hampstead 1936

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hampstead Borough]

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91
The overcrowding standard.
The overcrowding standard laid down in the Act consists of two
parts. Section 2 (1) (a) provides that a dwelling house shall be
deemed to be overcrowded if the accommodation is such that any two
persons being ten years old or more, of opposite sexes and not being
persons living together as husband and wife, must sleep in the same
room. Section 2 (1) (b), in conjunction with Tables I and II in the
First Schedule to the Act, fixes, in relation to the number and size of
the rooms in any dwelling house, the maximum number of persons,
irrespective of sex, who may be permitted to sleep in that house at one
time.
The "permitted number of persons" is the number determined
in accordance with one or other of the two following tables, whichever
be the less:—

Table: (a) Where the dwelling-house consists of :—

(a) Where the dwelling-house consists of :—

(i) One room2 persons
(ii) Two rooms3 ,,
(iii) Three rooms5 ,,
(iv) Four rooms7½ ,,
(v) Five rooms or more10 persons, with an additional two persons in respect of each room in excess of five.

Table: or(b) the aggregate number obtained by reckoning for each room a number of persons as follows :—

or(b) the aggregate number obtained by reckoning for each room a number of persons as follows :—

Where the floor area of a room is:—
(i) 110 square feet or more2persons.
(ii) 90 square feet or more, but less than 110 square feet1½,,
(iii) 70 square feet or more, but less than 90 square feet1,,
(iv) 50 square feet or more, but less than 70 square feet½,,
(v) Under 50 square feetNil.

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As was pointed out in the Memorandum of the Ministry of
Health, "this standard does not represent any ideal standard of
housing, but the minimum which is in the view of Parliament tolerable
while at the same time capable of immediate or early enforcement."
This standard will come into operation on 1st January, 1938, by
which date all rent books must contain a specified summary of the
provisions of the Act relating to overcrowding, including a statement
of the number of persons permitted to sleep in the house.