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The standard of work is governed by the London County Council
Drainage Byelaws.
Tenement Houses.
Three tenement houses were added to the Register, four tenement
houses were the subject of Closing Orders, making a total of 1,564
tenement houses on the Register. During the year, 588 tenement houses
were inspected and 3,229 defects were discovered.
As tenement houses become "decontrolled" it is incumbent upon
the owner to provide for each family by whom any part of the house
is occupied, (and, so far as is practicable, on the storey or one of the
storeys in which the rooms in the separate occupation of the family
are situated)—(a) Water-closet accommodation; (b) Accommodation
for washing clothes; (c) Accommodation for the storage of food; (d)
Accommodation for the preparation and cooking of food. The
enforcement of these requirements occupies a considerable amount of
time of the Tenement House Inspectors.
During the year 43 additional water-closets have been provided
without recourse to legal proceedings.
Proper facilities for the storage and cooking of food in tenement
houses are required by Section 184 of the Public Health (London) Act,
1936, but, by proviso, the former could only be enforced in such
houses as were used or occupied as such before 16th August, 1909,
and the beginning of August, 1908, respectively. This proviso limiting
the application of the clause was repealed by the London County
Council (General Powers) Act, 1937.
The Overcrowding Standards in Tenement Houses were affected
by the Housing Act, 1936, which came into operation on January 1st,
1937. It consolidated the Housing Acts, 1925 to 1935, and certain
other enactments relating to housing. The First Schedule of the Act
of 1935, which prescribed the standards by which was ascertained the
number of persons permitted to use a house for sleeping purposes, has
been carried into the new Act in the Fifth Schedule. Section 6 (2)
provides that as from the "appointed day" for the purposes of the
abatement of overcrowding,—which for Hampstead has been fixed for
the 1st January, 1938,—Byelaws made with regard to working class
houses, for fixing the number of persons who may occupy such houses,
and for the separation of the sexes therein, shall cease to have effect.