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31
HOUSING ACT 1961
Houses in Multiple Occupat ion
Whilst the subject of houses in multiple occupation is not a serious
problem in the Borough of Shoreditch, the thin end of the wedge appears to
have been established in the North East corner of the Borough, and a great
deal of the District Public Health Inspectors" time has been devoted to
maintaining some measure of control.
Unfortunately this has resulted in other duties having to be deferred for
the time being but the results obtained have been most encouraging and well
worth while.
The amount of time investigating and ascertaining information in connection
with any one of these premises has to be experienced to be believed, for
numerous problems arise and very often the wisdom of Solomon is required and
the patience of Job to obtain the necessary information as to who is the
occupier, who is the owner and as to whether those residing in the premises
are members of one family or not.
Family relationships as in the case of Hindus, Cypriots, Jamaicans, etc.,
have a far different meaning in those particular countries than the definition
we give to family relationship in this country For instance, a god-father
will claim that his godson is a member of his family.
One need not stretch his imagination very far to realise that co-operation
is lacking from those who are likely to be evicted as the result of our
investigations It is not surprising in the case of many immigrants who
occupy such premises that their knowledge of English quickly dries up when
enquiries are being made - which adds enormously to our problem.
This has meant a lot of work well outside the normal working hours, often
late on Saturday evenings and even on Sundays, in addition to late visits
throughout the week by the Public Health Inspectors, who are to be congratulated
for the enthusiasm shown in conducting duties which quite often may be described
as of the most unpleasant tasks.
It is interesting to note that, whilst the Act defines a house let in
multiple occupation as one which is occupied by members of more than one
family, that the Act fails to describe or give any definition as to who may
be considered to be members of one family, in other words where family
relationship begins and ends
In Shoreditch we are very alive to this problem and every effort is made
to prevent the occurrence of overcrowding in premises which lack amenities and
are totally unfit for use as houses in multiple occupation, Indeed, wherever
premises are noted to be for sale or are unoccupied and are of a type likely
to be let in multiple occupation energetic measures are immediately taken by
the Shoreditch Borough Council to fix a limit of occupation on the premises
In many instances where the houses are lacking in amenities a NIL limit
is imposed on the premises and we have found by our experience that this is a
policy very well worth while pursuing
Worthy of mention is the policy of the Council that whenever an application
is made for loan purchase whenever the premises lend themselves for
multiple occupation a clause is inserted in the Agreement for the loan, to
the effect that multiple occupation shall not be permitted without the written
consent of the Borough Council
Whilst the services of Technical Assistants are of some value in this
important work they are of little value in dealing with the type of people
encountered, because of the lack of experience and tact (and sometimes bluff and
pursuasion) which is required in dealing with occupants of this class of property.
The measures taken by the Shoreditch Borough Council as above defined
appear to be proving their worth in not only preventing the occurrence of
multiple overcrowding and bad living conditions but in an uplift in the
standards of those houses which are already let in multiple occupation