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the erection of the remaining block of dwellings to be known as Multon House
(a replica of Grendon House) to comprise 48 tenements of the simplified type with
120 rooms. The building work was entrusted to Rowley Brothers (1929) Limited
as an extension of their contract for the erection of Grendon and Multon Houses
but at prices (exclusive of prime cost items and provisional sums) 4½ per cent. less.
At the end of the vear work on this last block was approaching completion
Reduction
of rents—
Becontree.
During the year the Council reviewed the rents charged for accommodation
on its estates with a view to considering whether, on general grounds, any immediate
reduction of rents at any of the estates was called for.
The net rents (i.e., exclusive of rates and water charges) of all the Council's dwellings
provided before the war are the pre-war rents plus 40 per cent. as allowed
by the Rent Restriction Acts. The net rents of post-war dwellings provided by the
Council in London as rehousing accommodation in connection with clearance
schemes have been fixed on the same basis, having regard to the general level of
rents prevailing in the neighbourhood, the type of accommodation provided, and the
class of persons for whom the accommodation is intended. In some cases, specially
low rents are being or will be charged, e.g., for dwellings of the simplified type or
with reduced standard of finish, to meet the needs of the poorer classes of persons
displaced from clearance areas. The Council did not consider that an alteration of
the rents fixed in any of these cases was called for at present.
In the cases of houses provided since the war at cottage estates, the net rents
were fixed with due regard to statutory requirements and to conditions prevailing
at the time, and in some cases at increased rates in order to reduce the estimated
annual loss on the houses to approximately one-half of the amount of the State
grant under the Housing (Financial Provisions) Act, 1924. Having considered
the rents in operation at all the cottage estates in question the Council came to the
conclusion that, on the merits of the case and on general economic grounds, a reduction
of rents was most needed at Becontree. The Council, therefore, on 14th May,
1929, decided that a uniform reduction should be made as from 1st July, 1929, in
the net rents of all the houses at Becontree by 1s. 6d. a week. The annual cost
involved by reduction of income in respect of about 16,677 houses completed up
to 20th April, 1929, is approximately £61,273 (with a corresponding addition
for 1,031 houses not completed by that date for which rents had been fixed).
The scales of weekly net rents (i.e., exclusive of rates and water charges) at Becontree,
as thus reduced, are as follows:—Six-room houses, 15s.; five-room houses, 10s.
9d. to 13s. 6d.; five-room (parlour) flats, 12s. to 13s.; four-room (parlour) houses,
9s. 3d. to 13s.; four-room (parlour) flats, 10s. 6d.; four-room (non-parlour)
houses, 8s. 9d. to 12s. 6d.; four-room (non-parlour) flats, 8s. 9d.; three-room
houses, 8s. to 10s. 6d. ; three-room flats, 7s. to 8s. ; two-room flats, 6s. to 7s. 9d.
Rents.
Particulars of the rents fixed by the Council from time to time for its workingclass
dwellings will be found in the Annual Reports for previous years. Weekly
net rents (exclusive of rates and water charges) for further accommodation provided
both at cottage estates and in block dwellings were fixed by the Council during the
year 1929 as follows:—
Cottage estates.—Becontree (Barking No. 12 section, about 1,459 houses and
flats),—Houses—3 rooms, 9s. to 9s. 6d.; 4 rooms (non-parlour), 9s. 6d. to 12s. 6d.;
4 rooms (parlour), 10s. 6d. to 12s. 6d.; 5 rooms, 11s. 6d. to 12s.9d. Flats—2 rooms,
6s. 6d. to 7s. (These rents are based on the reduced scales of rents mentioned above.)
Bellingham (32 additional houses)—4 rooms (parlour), 14s. and 14s. 6d.; detached
house, 4 rooms (non-parlour), 15s, 6d. St. Helier estate (Central section, about 2,460
houses and flats)—Houses—3 rooms, 12s. 6d.; 4 rooms (non-parlour), 13s. to 15s. 6d.;
4 rooms (parlour), 14s. to 16s.; 5 rooms, 15s. to 17s. Flats—2 rooms, 10s. to
10s. 6d.; 3 rooms, 11s. to 12.; 4 rooms (non-parlour), 12s. to 13s.; 4 rooms (parlour),
13s. 6d.