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54
are concerned. The fact that the rent of the houses is such as
almost to preclude any possibility of that class of tenant meeting
it financially without subletting, was not a matter for the Court.
It may be noted that demolition on the Hemans Street clearance
area was not started during the year, i.e., three years and a half
after the representation.
Considerable difficulty has arisen both in this and in other
clearance areas regarding urgent repairs. Owners who are about
to be dispossessed of their property naturally do not wish, nor do
they intend, to embark upon any expenditure in connection with
such property. In nearly every instance the possibility of persuasion
is out of the question. If the structure becomes dangerous the
matter is comparatively simple, but apart from that aspect it is
difficult to see by what means an owner can be compelled to repair,
for example, a leaking roof. The service of notices is of no avail
unless followed by prosecution which, even if successful, can only
be regarded as inequitable to the owner. Moreover, compliance
with a notice carries with it the implication that the premises are
thereby rendered fit for habitation, whereas the representation
states that the only satisfactory method of dealing with the property
is by demolition, not by repair.
The sanitary inspector's position is one, too, of difficulty, since
every property in a clearance area needs some repair, and to effect
any repair by persuasion in one house leads to an outcry from the
other less fortunate tenants.
A leaking roof is one of the more common, as well as more
difficult and expensive, repairs to effect in old property, as damage
is done to other parts of the roof when repair work is being carried
out, so that the house may be less tenantable after repair than it
was before. The obvious answer to the difficulty is speedy acquisition.
But after confirmation of a clearance order, the legal formalities
needed to gain possession can be, and often are, extended by innumerable
unforeseen occurrences, as well as by the normal
recognised and expected difficulties. Meanwhile, the wretched
occupants of the property continue to live as best they may.
Underground Rooms.
Early in the year the Minister of Health was asked in the House
of Commons whether he could give particulars of the number of
underground rooms habitually used as sleeping places in the
administrative County of London. The information was not
available at the time, but the Minister promised that it should be
obtained from the London County Council.