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(a) is not on an average at least seven feet in height from floor to ceiling ;
or
(b) does not comply with such regulations as the local authority, with the
consent of the Local Government Board, may prescribe for securing
the proper ventilation and lighting of such rooms, and the protection
thereof against dampness, effluvia, or exhalation: Provided that if
the local authority, after being required to do so by the Local Government
Board, fail to make such regulation or such regulations as the
Board approve, the Board may themselves make them, and the regulations
so made shall have effect as if they had been made by the local
authority with the consent of the Board.
Provided that a closing order made in respect of a room to which this subsection
applies shall not prevent the room being used for purposes other than
those of a sleeping place; and that, if the occupier of the room after notice of
an order has been served upon him fails to comply with the order, an order to
comply therewith may, on summary conviction, be made against him :
Now therefore we, the Mayor, aldermen, and councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of St. Pancras, being the local authority for the
said Metropolitan Borough, hereby prescribe the following regulations with
which a room habitually used as a sleeping place, the surface of the floor of
which is more than three feet below the surface of the part of the street adjoining
or nearest to the room shall comply, namely : —
(a) Such room shall in every part thereof have at least three feet of its
height above the level of the surface of the street or ground adjoining
or nearest to such room: Provided that if the width of the area hereinafter
mentioned is not less than the height of the room from the
floor to the said surface, or is not less than six feet, the height of the
room above such surface may be less than three feet, but not in any
case less than one foot.
(b) Every wall of such room shall be constructed with a proper damp-proof
course, and, if in contact with the soil, shall be effectually protected
against dampness from that soil by means of a vertical damp-proof
course or otherwise.
(c) There shall be outside of and adjoining such room and extending along
the entire frontage thereof and open upwards from six inches below
the level of the floor thereof an area properly paved and effectually
drained and at least four feet wide in every part: Provided that the
width of such area may be not less in any part than three feet, if the
mean width of the area be not less than four feet: Provided also
that in the area there may be placed steps necessary for access to the
room, and over and across such area there may be steps necessary for
access to any buildings above the room, if the steps are so placed in
such case as not to be over or across any external window of the
room.
(d) The space (if any) beneath the floor of such room shall be provided
with adequate means of ventilation,