View report page

32
At one of these lodging houses the washing and bathing facilities were
greatly improved during 1964 by the installation of several shower baths,
foot baths and lavatory basins.
Housing Act, 1964
This Act, which came into force on the 16th August, 1964, sets up a
new body to assist housing societies to provide housing accommodation;
conveys powers and duties on local authorities to compel the carrying out
of works for the improvement of dwellings which are without all or any
of the standard amenities; amends the law relating to the giving of
financial assistance for the improvement of housing accommodation;
makes further provision as to the powers and duties of local authorities
as respects houses let in lodgings or occupied by more than one family;
amends the provisions of the Clean Air Act, 1956, relating to the making
of contributions to expenditure incurred in the adaptation of fireplaces in
private dwellings, and amends in other respects the law relating to
housing.
The Sections of the Act are arranged in five Parts. The purpose of
Parts II and III is to secure that within the next 10 years most of the
2,000,000 or so improvable homes in England and Wales which lack
amenities and which still have a reasonable life, are provided with hot
water, a fixed bath or shower, a wash-hand basin, an inside lavatory
and a proper food store—the five "standard" amenities.
Part I deals with assistance for housing societies providing housing
accommodation.
Part II enables local authorities to compel owners to improve tenanted
dwellings in improvement areas and tenement blocks; and elsewhere at
the request of the tenant. Improvement areas are defined as being areas
containing dwellings lacking one or more of the standard amenities
where at least one half are so constructed that it is practicable to improve
them to the full standard, and thereafter be fit for human habitation for
a period of not less than 15 years.
The provisions of Part III of the Act are designed to make grants more
attractive and thus encourage more owner-occupiers and landlords to
improve their dwellings.
The provisions of Part IV of the Act, which strengthen and extend
powers given in the Housing Act, 1961, to deal with squalid living conditions
in houses in multiple occupation, fall into three main groups:—
(i) increases powers to obtain information requisite to the
exercise of control under Part II of the Housing Act, 1961, and
strengthen their powers of enforcement;
(ii) introduces safeguards against eviction of tenants in a
multi-occupied house after a local authority has made a compulsory
purchase order under the Housing Acts; and