View report page

8
Property owners are to receive increased rents only where the
houses are in good repair, both as respects structure and decoration.
Those owners whose property is already in poor repair will receive
no increases presumably because appropriate amounts have not been
spent on repairs in past years. These owners will now have to find
the money to bring their property up to a reasonable standard or sell
it at its market value.
The problem of the dilapidated house can now be dealt with.
There remains, however, one feature of sub-standard housing in the
district for which there is no statutory remedy. This is the lack of
privacy inherent in the house which has been adapted for occupation
by more than one family. Unless the houses have been properly
converted families have to share common staircases, landings, bathrooms,
sanitary conveniences, yards, etc. This causes a great deal of
inconvenience and leads to unpleasantness and, in some cases, open
strife.
The new standard of fitness does not take a lack of privacy into
account at all. Is it that domestic privacy, like hot water supply and a
fixed bath, is considered a luxury !
The recently published Census Report for the County of Surrey
reveals some very interesting figures showing the housing position
in Barnes. The actual figures must be treated with some reserve
because of the varying interpretations put on the questions asked on
the Census forms, and answered by the housholders. For instancee, it
would appear from the figures returned on the forms that there were
775 families (excluding those in shared dwellings) who did not have
the exclusive use of a piped water supply from a tap. As far as the
Department is aware there are only one or two such cases, and these
are in circumstances peculiar to themselves.
From these figures it appears that nearly 2,000 households have
not the use of a fixed bath. Over 75% of the people living in houses
occupied by more than one family (2,697 persons) have either not got
the use of a bath or must share with members of another family.
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES
The question of the accumulations of refuse and discarded articles
which are dumped in back passages, etc., referred to in my last Annual
Report has not improved at all. Nearly all cases of rat infestation investigated
reveal these unnecessary dumps which harbour vermin.
It has been necessary to take formal action in a few cases. A new
scale of charges has been fixed by the Council for the removal of rubbish
which does not come within the ordinary domestic refuse category.
The charges are considered to be very reasonable, and members of the
public and traders should make greater use of this service. Unfortunately,
however, the cost of dealing with incombustible refuse is