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HOUSING
It is in the nature of things that West Ham is a particularly difficult district so
far as housing is concerned, because a great deal of the standing property has reached or
is now reaching the end of its economic life.
The process usually begins by a complaint from a tenant to the effect that defective
conditions have been reported to the landlord and nothing has been done. At this point an
inspection of the house is made by the Sanitary Inspector, the various defective conditions
are noted and a specification for repairs is prepared (a) in order to form part of a notice
to repair or (b) to form part of a report to the Committee with a view to demolition order
procedure under the Housing Act or (c) with a view to the inclusion of the house in an area
to be dealt with as a clearance area.
(a) Notice to Repair. It is becoming increasingly difficult year by year to deal with
defective houses by notices to repair. If these are not complied with they are followed
by the issue of summonses and proceedings in court. These usually take the form of a
complaint for an order, the complaint being that the notice served by order of the
Committee has not been complied with and a request for an Order by the Court in the matter
together with the imposition of such penalty as the court may deem fit. In many cases it
has been found necessary to lay informations for the issue of further summonses for the
offence of disobeying the Magistrate's Order. The Department is frequently met by the plea
that rents are restricted to not exceeding 40% increase on the 1914 standard, whilst building
repairs now cost 2¾ times what they did even in 1939 and a good 3½ to 4 times what they
did in 1914.
In some cases owners, or their professional advisers, have been prepared to submit
evidence that far greater sums have been expended on properties than is produced in the
form of rent and, in one case in particular, the owner persisted and proved to the satisfaction
of the court that he was, in fact, subsidising housing in West Ham«
Whilst it may be said that it is no defence in law in proceedings under the Public
Health Act to say that a house cannot be repaired at a reasonable cost, litigation within
recent years has shown that if any case is fought to a finish, that point will probably be
accepted by the courts as being consistent with the principles of British justice. Owners
remark with bitterness that whilst the local authority may and does increase the rents of
comparatively new houses owing to increased costs for maintenance, they themselves are still
restricted although theirs are older properties and must inevitably cost more to maintain.
During the year approximately 8,400 notices were served requiring the repair of dwelling
houses and about 470 summonses were issued in respect of non-compliance.
The position in regard to the licensing of building works in connection with repairs
enforced by statutory notices is dealt with by the Chief Sanitary Inspector,who is also,the
Chief Licensing Officer, affording priority not only to these notices but to dangerous
structure notices issued by the Borough Engineer. Another form of pressure which is exerted
by tenants on reluctant landlords is the machinery provided by the Rent Restriction Acts
1920 to 1939 whereby a certificate granted by the local authority in respect of a house to
which the Acts apply, enables the tenant to deduct the permitted increase in rent from his
payment until the landlord has himself obtained a certificate of repair from the local
authority as provided by the Act. 66 of these certificates were issued during the year.
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