View report page

61
(3) Number of dwelling-houses in respect of which Closing Orders
became operative in pursuance of declarations by owners of
intention to close Nil.
13.—Proceedings under Public Health Acts.
(1) Number of dwelling-houses in respect of which notices (Statutory)
were served requiring defects to be remedied 852
(2) Number of dwelling-houses in which defects were remedied after
service of formal (Statutory) notice:—
(a) By owners 794
(b) By Local Authority in default of owners Nil.
C.—Proceedings under Sections 11,14 and 15 of the Housing Act, 1925:—
(1) Number of representations made with a view to the making of
Closing Orders 5
(2) Number of dwelling-houses in respect of which Closing Orders
were made Nil.
(3) Number of dwelling-houses in respect of which Closing Orders were
determined, the dwelling-houses having been rendered fit Nil.
(4) Number of dwelling-houses in respect of which Demolition Orders
were made Nil.
(5) Number of dwelling-houses demolished in pursuance of Demolition
Orders Nil.
Particulars concerning Inspection of Tenement Houses are given in Table 6 on page 112.
The 155 flats mentioned at the beginning of this Section as having been erected during
the year comprised the following:—
39 flats built by the Borough Council (36 in Clarendon Street, Somers Town, and 3
built on vacant land in Chester Road on the Brookfield Estate); 66 flats erected by the
London County Council on their Ossulston Estate; and 50 flats built by the St. Pancras
House Improvement Society, Ltd. (30 in Bridgewater Street, and 20 in Little Drummond
Street).
HOUSING CONDITIONS.
1.—General Observations.
With the exception of a relatively small number of blocks of self-contained flats, the
greater part of the working-class accommodation in the Borough consists of tenement houses,
and the drawbacks associated with this form of housing are well known. Most of these houses
are old, and, owing to age and the rough usage associated with numerous tenants, frequent
inspections and the service of many notices are required to keep them in anything like
suitable condition.
Although the majority of the tenement houses have been occupied as such for many
years, the number is steadily increasing, as year by year there are streets in which the houses,
previously occupied by one family, are now being let to a number of families. The factors
mainly responsible being the age of the houses in question, the cost of upkeep, the inconvenience
of so many stairs, the migration of many of those able to afford it to the outlying suburbs, and
the increasing popularity of the modern up-to-date flat.
The type of tenement house usually found in the Borough is a single-fronted terrace
house, generally of about three storeys, but also having a more or less underground basement.
Each floor usually has two rooms, one in front, the other at the back, and although there are