London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Richmond upon Thames 1965
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Richmond upon Thames]
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The following properties were made fit for human habitation during the year and
in each case a Closing Order was determined or an undertaking cancelled :
3 a, Vine Cottages, Petersham
9, The Terrace, Barnes
10, Waterloo Place, Richmond
Closing Order determined.
Basement, 31, Kew Green, Richmond
37, Princes Road, Teddington
2, Eleanor Grove, Barnes
Undertaking cancelled.
All the dwellings included in the above report were dealt with by way of formal
action under the Housing Act, 1957; in addition, repairs were effected at 247 dwellings
after informal consultation with the owners, and 15 other dwellings were made fit for
human habitation after the service of statutory notices under the Public Health Acts.
The action taken to remedy unfit houses is summarised in the table below:
| (a) Clearance Areas represented to Council | Nil |
| (b) Dwellings included in (a) above | Nil |
| (c) Dwellings demolished after Clearance Orders made | 7 |
| (d) Dwellings represented for Demolition or Closing Orders | 9 |
| (e) Undertakings received to carry out repairs | 1 |
| (f) Closing Orders made in respect of — | |
| (i) Whole of building | 10 |
| (ii) Part of building | 1 |
| (g) Demolition Orders made | 1 |
| (h) Closing Orders determined on a building being made fit | 3 |
| (i) Undertakings cancelled on a building being made fit | 3 |
| (j) Dwellings in which defects were remedied after service of formal notice | 15 |
| (k) Dwellings in which defects were remedied after informal action | 247 |
(2) Houses in Multiple Occupation
The Council have given consideration to the problems which may arise when a
dwelling house is let to more than one family and have set down a standard for the
facilities which should be provided for each letting.
The standard requires every room used for human habitation to have a window
of an area not less than 1/10th floor area (and one-half of the window to be capable
of being opened) so as to provide adequate natural lighting and ventilation. Each
letting has to have a separate water supply, a sink or wash-hand basin, and a ventilated
food cupboard or refrigerator. The house is required to have water closets and baths
on a scale which ensures that not more than eight persons need to share each fitting.
A copy of the standard has been made available to owners on request, and where
houses in multiple occupation are found, on routine visits, to be substandard the owner
is required to provide the additional facilities.
Apart from the lack of essential amenities, the problems of multiple occupation
include overcrowding and bad management; to deal with cases of overcrowding more
extensive use is likely to be made of the powers given by the Housing Act, 1961
whereby the local authority limit the number of persons occupying any house or letting
by way of a Direction; similarly, cases of bad management can be dealt with by Orders
made under the Housing Act, 1961, which render the owner liable to heavy penalties
for failure to maintain the dwelling and its fittings in a reasonable state of repair.
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