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103
Health, the Council should be prepared to step in and carry out, as
required, the obligations which are definitely imposed by the Housing
Acts upon the Council, viz., to enter upon the premises, to do the
necessary work, and to surcharge the owner or owners concerned, the
expenses (reasonable expenses), being a first charge upon the
property. As it is at present in Lambeth, the Housing Inspectors are
left to persuade, as best they can, the owner or owners to start and
carry out the works required, and this persuasion is carried on by
interviews, letters, etc. The waste of time involved is shown by the
intervals that elapse between the ends of the time limits stated on the
legal notices and the completions of the works. The facts, as far as
Lambeth is concerned, are as follows (since the appointment of the
two Housing Inspectors):—
Total houses dealt with (legal notices) 111
(а) Completed cases 52 weeks.
(b) Uncompleted cases 79 weeks.
These figures, which are averages and only approximate, are more
than, "reasonable" but involve extra unnecessary work in constant
supervision that is required, again and again, from the Housing
Inspectors on account of the slowness of the progress of the work,
preventing also, as a natural result, a larger amount of new inspections
and surveys being carried out.
It would certainly simplify the work considerably, and save much
of the Housing Inspectors' time, which would consequently, then be
available for further new surveys and inspections—time that is, at
present, practically wasted in revisits and reinspections for the purpose
of seeing if the works connected with the requirements of the Council
have yet been commenced, and, if so, at what rate such works are
progressing. Owners would realise, as they ought to do, what is laid
down in the Housing Acts, viz., that they must be prepared to put the
necessary works in hand before, or immediately after, the additional
time limits, given in the legal notices, have expired.
Administratively, the matter is important, and deserving of the
attention of the Council. Reconditioning of old unfit houses (as
opposed to closing and demolishing) has come to stop, and housing
authorities will have to arrange to undertake the work systematically,
both by the appointment of a sufficient number of efficient Inspectors
and by using all the powers that the legislature has bestowed upon
them by statute.
Speaking generally, Lambeth owners are in no sense hostile : there
are, however, unfortunately, exceptions to this general rule.