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existed at the end of the year, so far as is known in the absence of any system of
notification of removal to privately owned dwellings such as exists in the case of
removal to Borough Council and County Council dwellings. Considerable progress
has been made since the close of the year in the removal of these overcrowded families
to Borough Council flats.
No cases were recorded in 1937 in which dwellings had again become overcrowded
after the Council had taken steps for the abatement of overcrowding.
For several years past the Public Health Department has received information
both from the London County Council's and the Borough Council's Housing Departments
of families about to be removed to municipal dwellings. In every such case,
whether or not the family to be removed was leaving an overcrowded dwelling, a
Sanitary Inspector has called and secured the name and address of the person
responsible for re-letting the house or apartment about to be vacated and a letter
has been addressed to that person warning him against re-letting so as to cause
overcrowding.
The inspection of rent-books to see that these books contain a summary of the
overcrowding provisions of the Housing Act, 1936, and the number of persons permitted
to occupy the dwelling is carried out by the Sanitary Inspectors at each house at
which they call as a routine measure.
It should be borne in mind that although it is the duty of landlords and occupiers
to prevent overcrowding, and it is the duty of landlords to make entries in rent books
as to the "permitted" number of occupiers of a dwelling, it is not the duty of the
local authority to supply the information except on request. The question of enforcing
the placing of this statement of the "permitted" number of occupiers in rent books
is, in the circumstances, not one that can be dealt with immediately; it is a gradual
process and any course other than that followed of drawing the attention of landlords
to their failure in this respect would result in flooding the courts with prosecutions.
It is quite obvious that the staff is not available to adopt such a course and it was
never contemplated that mass action of this kind would be carried out. Moreover,
in spite of attempts to enlighten the public, many owners and occupiers are still
unaware of this requirement of the Housing Act. As a matter of fact less than 500
applications have been received from landlords for information as to the number of
persons permitted to occupy the houses they control, and it is necessary to call the
attention of defaulting landlords to this deficiency as they are discovered. The
position now (June, 1938) is that the "permitted" number of occupiers with regard to
25,198 dwellings has been forwarded. The information as to the remaining 43,302
dwellings has neither been requested by nor forwarded to the owners. It may be,
of course, that in some cases landlords have made their own calculations in this
respect without reference to the local authority, but 1 consider this highly improbable
in the majority of cases.
The following is a copy of the form of enquiry as to the necessary entries in rent
books which is completed by the Sanitary Inspectors whenever they visit a house:—
HOUSING ACT, 1936.
Name
Address
Please report as to whether the rent book contains:—
(1) A summary of provisions of Sees. 58, 59 and 61 of the
Housing Act, 1936
(2) A statement of the permitted number of persons in
relation to the house
(3) The name and address of M.O.H.
(4) The name and address of landlord