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59
HOUSES LET IN LODGINGS.
The number on the Register at the end of the year was 1,885, and
in this connection there are still certain difficulties in the application of
the bye-laws, the chief of which are:—
(1) The question of "Control" under the Rent Restriction Act.
(2) The question of sub-letting; and
(3) A new difficulty which has arisen since the overcrowding
survey, i.e., the question of re-housing the families requiring
six or more rooms.
(1) The Question of Control.—The most important provisions of the
above bye-laws are contained in Clauses Nos. 13, 17, 18 and 25. By
virtue, however, of the amending Bye-laws made on the 24th February,
1931, these particular clauses only apply to a "decontrolled house."
A "decontrolled house" is defined as a lodging house to which the
principal Bye-laws apply, and which is not a dwelling house to any part
of which the increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest Restrictions Act,
1920, applies.
By virtue of the Rent and Mortgage Interest (Amendment) Act,
1933, dwelling houses not already decontrolled before the 18th July,
1933, of which the rateable value on the 6th April, 1931, did not exceed
£20, remain subject to control until the expiration of the Acts, namely,
24th June, 1938. "Dwelling house" within the meaning of the Rent
Restriction Acts is a house let as a separate dwelling or a part of a house,
being a part so let.
In this Borough there are many large houses which, if occupied
by one family, would, by virtue of Section 1 (1) of the Rent and Mortgage
Interest Restrictions (Amendment) Act, 1933, be automatically
decontrolled as from the 29th September, 1933, having regard to the
fact that the annual amount of the recoverable rent, and the rateable
value, exceed £45. These houses, however, are let to several families
in separate tenements and, as such, are lodging houses within the meaning
of the Tenement House Bye-laws. Moreover, each tenement is a
"dwelling house" within the meaning of the Rent Restriction Acts
and if (as is often the case) any of such tenements remain controlled,
Clauses 13, 17, 18 and 25, of the Bye-laws have no application to the
house as a whole.
(2) The Question of Sub-letting.—The constant change of tenant
and sub-tenant in this type of dwelling is a continual source of difficulty.