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29
HOUSING
Unfit Houses
249 houses were inspected and 1 79 found to be unfit. Housing repair
work was enforced as follows:-
Repaired after negotiation with the owners 138
Repaired after service of statutory notices 25
Improvement of Sub-standard Houses
The Council approved grants for the improvement of 21 houses; 13 by
standard and 8 by discretionary grants.
Every effort was made to encourage improvement of houses by prompt
and personal attention to applications. As a result of detailed estimating
of costs for discretionary grants, hundreds of pounds were saved to the
Council in grants. Owners were also often saved considerable amounts of
money, for it was found that, in most cases, builders' original estimates
were voluntarily reduced after negotiation.
The schemes for promoting "Improvement Areas" were again deferred
pending the amalgamation with the Boroughs of Walthamstow and Leyton.
Houses in Multiple Occupation
Vigorous action by the Department, fully backed by the Council, was
taken during the year both to improve conditions in this type of
occupation and to stop exploitation.
The Register of Electors was gone through from beginning to end, and
all houses showing large numbers of occupants were visited Those in
multiple occupation were dealt with under the provisions of the Housing
Acts. Initially some evictions took place, but ceased upon the Council
deciding to compulsorily purchase in these cases.