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In considering the matters specified in Section 3 of the Housing Repairs and
Rents Act, 1954, and in order to decide the extent to which the house is unfit under
each heading the following must be taken into account.
(a) Repair.
External. Walls-pointing perished and open, brickwork perished. Yardspaving
defective, water lodging. Roofs-leaking due to loose and broken slates,
flushings defective. Gutters-worn, broken and missing.
Internal. Wall and ceiling plaster loose, broken or perished. Flooring rotted,
broken or worm eaten. Window frames and sashes rotted, broken and ill-fitting. Sash cords
broken. Doors ill-fitting, broken. Stairtreads worn and broken. Firegrates broken and
obsolete. Window and door fasteners missing.
(b) Staballty.
External walls bulging, fractured or out of plumb. Roof rafters sagging. Arches
over windows fractured or out of alignment, floors, door lintels and beams Dut of level.
(c) Freedom from Damp.
Dampness may be rising or penetrating. Very few slum houses are free from dampness,
particularly in the south of the Borough where the sites are low lying and the soil in some
parts is subject to saturation by heavy tides. The absence of suitable concrete over the
sites and of horizontal damp proof courses causes serious rising dampness. Dampness caused
by leaking roofs, broken gutters, etc., is not usually classed under this head as it is
usually attributable to disrepair. Penetrating dampness is often found as the result of
the defective brickwork of an exposed party wall.
(d) Natural Lighting.
In considering this item, the test again is what amount of natural light a reasonable
person would consider to be essential. The questions one is confronted with are-is it
possible to carry out natural domestic work in a living room without the use of artificial
light, or to read a newspaper without supplementary lighting.
In general if the window area is at least one-tenth that of the floor area of the
room, it is regarded as satisfactory and in the majority of houses in the Borough the
condition is satisfied. Unfortunately in West Ham it is frequently found that houses,
although having sufficient window space, are so constructed with Jutting out back additions
that the lighting to the ground floor back room and the ground floor back addition room is
so badly obstructed as to render the house unfit within the meaning of the section. In many
cases the distances between the back additions of a row of houses are less than 10 feet, in
some instances as low as 5 feet, thereby rendering it necessary to provide means of artificial
lighting on most days, even in summer.
Many stairoases are also without means of natural lighting, a defect which might
be dangerous, especially to young children and aged people.
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