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74
addition be made to the existing By-law 3 of the Council's
By-laws: —
"Provided that in either of the following cases a tenement
house shall be exempt from the operation of these Bylaws
; that is to say :—
"(1) Where the landlord resides upon the premises
and the sub-letting is not to more that one
tenant.
"(2) Where the number of separate dwellings in
which the house is sublet does not exceed onethird
of the total number of habitable rooms in
the house and no such dwelling contains less
than two habitable rooms."
The effect of Sub-Clause 2 is that if the number of dwellings exceeds onethird
of the total number of rooms the house is not exempt; on the other hand
if it equals or is less than one-third the house is exempt provided that no
dwelling therein has less than two habitable rooms, otherwise the house is not
exempt.
Consequently, the house will become registerable, if containing 4 or 5 rooms
it be subdivided into 2 or more dwellings, if containing 6 to 8 rooms it be subdivided
into 3 or more, if 9 to 11 rooms into 4 or more, and if 12 to 14 rooms
it be sub-divided into 5 or more dwellings.
Houses of 6 or 8 rooms let in 2 dwellings, of 9 to 11 rooms let in 3, and of
12 to 14 let in 4 dwellings will be exempt provided none of the dwellings
contain less than 2 rooms.
Briefly put, the proviso in practice will exempt house3 let in dwellings of 3
or more rooms. In 3 or more rooms there is very little likelihood of overcrowding,
as such a dwelling could accommodate quite a large family.
In trying to frame a limitation it is desirable to have in mind the objects
of the By-laws. They are mainly to prevent overcrowding of rooms and
domestic and sanitary conveniences and to secure cleansing, and for these
purposes, amongst others, to make periodical inspections. Experience shows
that the more sublet a house becomes, and in proportion as the number of
separata dwellings in an ordinary house increases, so the amount of inspection
necessary to prevent overcrowding and secure cleansing also increases. Thus,
generally speaking, a house sublet in one-room dwellings will be proportionately
more liable to be overcrowded, and, on account of greater and more
continuous use, become sooner and more unclean than a house sublet in tworoom
dwellings, and so on with regard to three and four and more room
dwellings.
The model By-laws suggest a rental limit for houses to be exempted.
Whatever may be the case elsewhere enquiry has elicited the fact that in St.
Pancras the rental paid for a similar room in the same situation on the same
floor, and occupied by the same number of persons, will be, in the southern
part of the Borough, about double that paid in the northern part, so that the
higher rental limit would exclude houses requiring registration, and the lower