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House purchase loans
933 properties, a record number, were surveyed and reported on
by the inspectors during the year for house purchase loans made by the
Council. In many of these cases schedules of work were agreed and
the repairs supervised and approved in order to make the premises "in
all respects fit for habitation" as required by s.43 of the Housing
(Financial Provisions) Act 1958 under which loans are made.
Discretionary grants and Standard grants
Standard grants—given for the establishment of certain facilities
otherwise lacking—are equivalent to 50 percent of the cost, with maxima
of £25 for a bath or shower, £5 for a wash-hand basin, £75 for a hot
water supply, £40 for a w.c. and £10 for a food store. The largest
possible grant is therefore £155. These grants are made under the
House Purchase and Housing Act, 1959, and during the year 70 applications
were investigated and reported on.
Discretionary grants are available for a wide range of improvements,
including conversions to self-contained dwellings, to enable
houses to be modernised and brought up to a "twelve point" standard.
They are paid solely at the discretion of the Council, have a maximum
of £400 for each dwelling, and are made under the Housing (Financial
Provisions) Act, 1958. During the year 53 applications were investigated
and reported on.
Moveable dwellings
During the year the overall position in London as far as homeless
families were concerned became even more acute and in an effort to
ameliorate this, the County Council decided to set up prefabricated
moveable dwellings on various vacant sites. These dwellings will be connected
to the main services (water, electricity and drainage) and they,
and their surroundings will have to conform to regulations unofficially
agreed between the metropolitan boroughs. Two sites had been licensed
in Lewisham by the end of the year, with room for 12 dwellings on one
and two dwellings on the other.