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45
it conferred upon local authorities (and concurrently upon the London
County Council) new and greatly strengthened powers to deal with squalid
living conditions in houses in multiple occupation, viz.:—
(i) an entirely new power to apply a Code of Management to
individual houses in which proper standards of management have
not been observed;
(ii) stronger powers to require the provision of additional facilities
and amenities essential to decent living conditions, and the provision
of adequate means of escape from fire;
(iii) power for the local authority to carry out works itself in
default, and to recover the cost incurred; and
(iv) power to make a directive limiting the number of persons
who may live in a house in multiple occupation.
Full enforcement of these new provisions may well result in a
reduction in the number of families living in a particular house, with
the result that families displaced will doubtless approach the Council for
rehousing.
To carry out its duties under the Act, the Council decided that a
comprehensive survey should be undertaken of all houses in Westminster
iu multiple occupation; this necessitated strengthening the inspectorate
of the Public Health Department and subsequently the establishment
of the Department was increased by two posts of public health inspector.
In May, 1962, the Housing (Management of Houses in Multiple
Occupation) Regulations, 1962, came into operation, providing a code of
management for houses in multiple occupation. The Regulations require
the person managing a house to arrange for the proper repair, maintenance,
cleansing and good order of the water supply, drainage, communal
kitchens, bathrooms and water-closets, staircases, corridors, outbuildings
and gardens, and to make adequate provision for the disposal of refuse.
At its meeting on 21st June, 1962, the City Council adopted a Code
of Practice (a) for securing the fitness of the premises for occupation by
the number of families accommodated; and (b) for the prevention of
overcrowding. This Code was produced as a result of a review of the
code adopted in April, 1956, having regard to the wider powers conferred
upon local authorities for securing an improvement in services and
facilities in houses in multiple occupation. The City Council resolved
that, unless special circumstances may justify a modification, a house or
part of a house which is let in lodgings or occupied by members of more
than one family, and to which Part II of the Housing Act, 1961, and
Section 90 of the Housing Act, 1957, apply, shall not be regarded as
reasonably suitable for occupation unless the standards set out in the
Code obtain.