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62
HOUSING ACT, 1936 : SECTION 12:
UNDERGROUND ROOMS OF NO. 88 HERNE HILL, S.E.24:
OWNER' S APPEAL AGAINST THE CLOSING
ORDER MADE BY THE LAMBETH BOROUGH COUNCIL
The Pub] Health Committee, at its meeting on the 8th October,
1956, made a Closing Order under the Housing Acts in respect of
the basement of No. 88 Herne Hill, on the grounds that the rooms
did not comply with the Council's Underground Room Regulations as
required by Section 12(2)(b) of the Housing Act, 1936.
The owner appealed against the Order and the County Court
Judge allowed the appeal on the ground that the Council's Underground
Room Regulations could no longer be applied in determining
unfitness for human habitation, since Section 9 of the Housing
Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, which sets out the factors to be
taken into consideration when determining whether a " house " is
reasonably fit for occupation impliedly repealed the Council's
Underground Room Regulations.
On the advice of Counsel, an appeal against this decision was
lodged in the Court of Appeal and was heard on Friday, Monday and
Tuesday, the 3rd, 6th and 7th May, 1957, before the Master of the
Rolls (Lord Evershed), Lord Justice Morris and Lord Justice
Pearce. In the course of the legal argument, it transpired that
Lord Justice Morris had been a member of the Court of Appeal which
had heard the case of the Board of Governors of the London Hospital
v. Jacobs. This was an unreported case heard in February, subse
quent to the lodging of this Council's appeal. The case arose out
of a claim by the Board of Governors of the London Hospital for
arrears of rent consequent upon the service on the defendant of
a notice of increase of rent under the Housing Repairs and Rents
Act, 1954. Part of the case for the defendant was that, because
one of the rooms in his premises was an underground room, having
an average height of less than seven feet, it was, by virtue of
the statutory provisions contained in Section 12 of the Housing
Act, 1936, to be deemed to be unfit for human habitation and,
therefore, could not be said to be reasonably fit for occupation
for the purpose of the 1954 Act. Although it was stated that the
point was not relevant to the decision, the Lords of Appeal in
giving judgment, all concurred in the view that Section 9 of the
Housing Repairs and Rents, Act, 1954, amended Section 12 of the
Housing Act, 1936.