Report to the Sewers and Sanitary Committee of the parish of St. Giles, Camberwell, on houses let in lodgings.

  • Bristowe, John Syer, 1827-1895.
Date:
[1884]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report to the Sewers and Sanitary Committee of the parish of St. Giles, Camberwell, on houses let in lodgings. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the actual landlord, namely, the owner or leaseholder, who receives the rent of the house, is ignored. I don't know how this matter may stand in the central districts of London. But in our own parish nearly all the lodging houses, that could be placed under regulations, are occupied by weekly or yearly tenants who themselves let the lodgings. Now these tenants, who accord- ing to the suggested regulations are the landlords, have no power or legal obligation to make structural alterations in houses, to amend closets or drains, or to do anything of that kind, which is here required of them. The respective duties, in fact, of the landlord (using the term in its proper acceptation), and of the tenant, are here muddled up in a way which if maintained would, it seems to me, make the regulations practically inoperative. 4th. The method by which it is proposed to determine what houses let in lodgings shall-be placed under regulations, and what houses let in lodgings shall not be thus dealt with, is one that can only lead to injustice. The author of Section 2 recognises, what is obvious, that it would be practically impossible, and if possible undesirable, to bring all houses let in lodgings under regulation; and pro- poses, therefore, that a hard and fast line shall be drawn, accord- ing to which all lodging houses above a certain rateable value shall escape, all below it shall be included. Again, I know little of what obtains in central parishes ; but in parishes like our own, where I dare say ten thousand houses are let in lodgings, the adoption of any such rule would be not only unjust, but absurd. Most of the houses (as in Sultan and Holliugton Streets), which have been brought under our regulations, are tolerably large houses, occupied by several families each; but a great number of our houses let in lodgings are small, clean houses, in respectable streets, occupied by clerks and persons of that class, which stand at a lower rental than these others. The Board's regulations would put all of these iu the same category, or (if making a distinction) would place the better class of lodging houses under regulation, and would exclude those that actually need it. 5tii. The requirements are in some instances tyrannical and indecent. Clauses 8, 9, 10, and 11 give authority to the Medical