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THIRD REPORT

BY THE

Select Committee appointed to join with a Committee of the House of Commons to consider all Consolidation Bills in the present Session.

BEING A REPORT UPON THE

HOUSING BILL [H.L.].

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ORDERED TO REPORT THAT—

1. The Committee have considered the Bill and made in it such amendments as seemed to them to be required to bring it into conformity with the existing law and to be desirable to improve its form. These amendments are set out in Appendix I to this Report. The Committee consider that the Bill, as amended, represents the existing law relating to the housing of the working classes of a permanent character, and that the Bill should be allowed to proceed.

2. The course of legislation has made necessary some rearrangement of the subject matter, and the Bill is framed on the following lines:

Part 1.-Provisions relating to the repair and sanitary condition of existing houses. These include the obligation of landlords to keep houses in repair; the power of the local authorities to repair if the landlord fails in his obligation; the power of the local authorities to make byelaws respecting houses divided into separate tenements; the closing and demolition of insanitary houses, and the demolition of obstructive buildings.

Part II.-Improvement and reconstruction schemes for the clearance of insanitary areas.

Part III. The provision of additional housing accommodation.

3. The Bill leaves outstanding the temporary provisions of the Acts now in force for encouraging the building of workmen's dwellings to meet the present shortage and does not in any way prejudice the passing of new measures designed for this object. These measures, being for the most part of a financial nature, can be engrafted to the permanent law without disturbing it.

4. Complete consistency in the use of expressions in the Bill has been rendered difficult because in the existing legislation different words are used for what are substantially the same things. The language of the Bill has been made fairly consistent throughout without, in the opinion of the Committee, effecting any material alteration in the law.

5. As is invariably the case with Consolidation Bills, questions arose before the Committee as to the exact effect of later enactments upon earlier enactments, and as to whether the Bill when reproducing the exact language of the existing enactments did not thereby in some cases alter the law. The cases in which such doubts arose are set out in Appendix II to this Report, with the manner in which the Committee dealt with them.

6. The Committee were furnished with a Table of Comparisons which shows the mode in which the Bill deals with the enactments which are proposed to be repealed thereby. The Committee considered it would be useful if this table were prefixed to the Bill before being again considered by Parliament, and they have accordingly directed that this should be done.

APPENDIX I.

AMENDMENTS MADE BY THE JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE.

In the Memorandum, leave out "consolidate without amendment" and insert "reproduce in a consolidated form ", and at the end insert:The following Table of Comparison shows how each section of the existing statutes relating to Housing is dealt with in the Bill." Clause 1, page 1, lines 10 and 11, leave out "made after the third day "of December, nineteen hundred and nine ".

Clause 1, page 1, line 17, after "shall" insert "notwithstanding any "stipulation to the contrary".

Clause 1, page 1, line 18, leave out "holding " and insert "tenancy Clause 1, page 1, line 20, leave out "holding" and insert "tenancy Clause 1, page 2, line 8, leave out "that term or " and insert "three "years " and leave out sub-section (ii).

Clause 1, page 2, after line 28, insert:

(4) This section applies to a contract made either before or after the commencement of this Act;

Provided that in the case of a house situate elsewhere than in the administrative County of London, or a borough or an urban district with a population according to the last census for the time being of fifty thousand or upwards the rent whereof exceeds sixteen pounds this section shall not apply if the contract was made before the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-three.

Clause 2, page 2, lines 31, 32 and 33, leave out "current at or made "after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-one ". Clause 2, page 2, lines 39 to 41, leave out "and as from the commencement of the occupation or from the said first day of January, whichever "date is the later ".

Clause 2, page 3, after line 8, insert:

(2) This section shall apply whether the contract of employment was entered into before or after the commencement of this Act, but shall not apply in respect of any period during which the house was occupied under any such contract before the first day of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-one.

Clause 3, page 3, line 11, leave out "and" and insert" or ". Clause 3, page 3, line 20, after "rendered" insert "in all respects "reasonably ".

Clause 3, page 3, line 38, after "made " insert in all respects "reasonably

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Clause 3, page 4, line 15, after "time" insert" by ".

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Clause 3, page 5, line 15, after "house" insert in all respects "reasonably ".

Clause 4, page 5, line 24, after "rendered "insert" in all respects "reasonably ".

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Clause 7, page 8, line 21, leave out "work" and insert "works". Clause 11, page 10, lines 38 and 39, leave out "shall be liable on 66 summary conviction to " and insert may on complaint to a court of summary jurisdiction ".

Clause 17, page 14, lines 18 and 19, leave out "commenced to be erected "after the third day of December, nineteen hundred and nine ".

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Clause 17, page 14, line 20, after "be" insert "in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be ".

Clause 17, page 14, line 30, leave out " or

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Clause 17, page 14, line 31, leave out "(b) shall" and insert:

(2) This section shall apply to any house commenced to be erected after the third day of December, nineteen hundred and niue, except that it shall not

Clause 20, page 18, line 21, leave out "any dispute arises between ". Clause 20, page 18, line 22, leave out "and" and insert "feels 'aggrieved by the decision of ".

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Clause 20, page 18, line 25, leave out dispute shall" and insert "matter shall, on application for the purpose being made by such owner "or occupier ".

Clause 36, page 28, line 4, leave out "for which he acts as medical "officer of health ".

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Clause 57, page 44, line 5, after enlarge "insert" repair." Clause 59, page 46, line 31, leave out "an annual rent charge and insert a chief rent, rent charge or other similar periodical payment ", Clause 67, page 50, line 4, after "Act" insert "or any Act repealed "by this Act ".

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Clause 67, page 50, lines 7 and 8, after dwelling-houses "insert so". Clause 67, page 50, line 8, leave out "under this part of this Act". Clause 69, page 51, line 2, after "Act" insert or any Act repealed "by this Act".

Clause 76, page 55, line 23, leave out" of ".

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Clause 82, page 59, line 11, leave out "and" and insert as a new paragraph, The expenses incurred by a rural district council under Part III. of this Act shall be defrayed as general expenses, but "

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Clause 82, page 59, line 12, leave out a rural district" and insert "the".

Clause 82, page 59, line 13, leave out "Part III of this Act" and insert "that Part ".

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Clause 84, page 60, line 34, after " purposes" insert or as expenses "for special County purposes as the case may require:

Provided that any expenses incurred by a County Council, including the London County Council, under Section seventy of this Act shall be defrayed as expenses for general county purposes".

Clause 89, page 63, line 39, leave out the first "the" and insert" if the Minister makes a recommendation to that effect, the "

Clause 89, page 63, lines 39 and 40 and line 1, page 41, leave out "be "and period not exceeding such period as may be" and insert "exceed "the period allowed under any enactment limiting the period for which "loans may be made by the Commissioners, but the period shall not "exceed the period ".

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Clause 98, page 69, line 25, leave out street and insert "public "street or road".

Clause 108, page 75, line 39, after "scheme" insert "public streets " or ".

Clause 108, page 75, line 44, after "the" insert streets or ". Clause 108, page 76, line 16, after "the" insert "streets or ". Clause 108 page 76, line 18, after the second "the" insert "streets or ". Clause 123, page 82, lines 16 to 18, leave out lines 16 to 18 inclusive. Clause 134, page 85, line 28, leave out "construction" and insert "combination ".

IN THE SCHEDULES.

In the First Schedule, page 89, line 19, leave out · are ".

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In the First Schedule, page 89, line 24, leave out "it" and insert "them ".

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In the Second Schedule, page 91, line 4, leave out " or ".

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In the Sixth Schedule, page 98, line 5, leave out "19".

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APPENDIX II.

CLAUSE 1.

The Committee considered that they were justified in treating Section 75 of the Act of 1890 as completely superseded by Section 14 of the Act of 1909. The matter is one of small practical importance. The difference between the two sections is that whereas Section 14 of the Act of 1909 gives power to contract out of the implied condition that a working-class dwelling is in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation, where there is an express undertaking by the lessee that he will put the house into a state fit for human habitation and the lease is for a term of at least three years certain, Section 75 of the Act of 1890 gives no such power. The number of cases where such a contract would be entered into the case of a genuine working-class dwelling must be negligible.

The Committee have also removed an ambiguity which at present exists. in the wording of the provision of the Act of 1909 allowing such contracting out. It is not clear in the existing enactment that it would apply to the case of a lease for, say, five years, determinable by either party at the end of three years. It appeared to the Committee that the obvious intention was that the proviso should apply so long as there was a term of three years certain, and the Committee have given effect to that intention.

CLAUSE 11.

Section 17 of the Act of 1909 provides that where a closing order has been made and the occupying tenant of the house is served with a notice from the local authority to leave the house, he is, in default of complying with the notice, to be "liable on summary conviction to be ordered to "quit the house within such time as may be specified in the order." The words "on summary conviction" are inappropriate, as the section does not make the failure to leave the house in obedience to the notice

a punishable offence. The Committee have, therefore, changed the language to "in default he may on complaint to a court of summary "jurisdiction be ordered to quit the house."

CLAUSE 17.

Section 43 of the Act of 1909 provides that in future back to back houses are to be "deemed to be unfit for human habitation for the "purposes of this Act." The obvious intention of the section was to make back to back houses liable to be closed by means of a closing order. The Committee, therefore, have substituted for the words "unfit for "human habitation" the words "so dangerous or injurious to health "as to be unfit for human habitation," the language used in the Act for denoting the circumstances in which a closing order may be made.

CLAUSE 40.

The Committee considered that sub-sections (2) and (6) of this clause, which in the original Act were only applicable to improvement schemes, might be treated as still alive and applicable both to improvement schemes and reconstruction schemes, in spite of the fact that by the Act of 1923 the procedure for schemes of both classes is the procedure theretofore applicable to reconstruction schemes only. The provisions in question merely make statutory conditions which the Minister of Health without statutory authority could, and most certainly would, impose.

CLAUSE 46.

The Committee found the existing provisions as to the assessment of compensation to be paid for land taken under improvement and reconstruction schemes very difficult to disentangle. They are at present contained in three Acts: the Housing Acts of 1890 and 1919, and the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919. The Act of 1890 laid down certain provisions as to the assessment of compensation; the Housing Act of 1919 superimposed on these provisions certain other provisions applicable to insanitary property only, and provided that the compensation provisions of the Act of 1890 were to cease to apply as respects such insanitary property "in so far as such first-mentioned "provisions are inconsistent or in conflict with the provisions of this "section." Subsequently in the same year the Assessment of Compensation Act, 1919, laid down general provisions with respect to the assessment of compensation for land compulsorily acquired by public authorities but contained a saving for the special provisions of the Housing Acts "if and so far as the provisions in those Acts are inconsistent with the "rules under this Act." The chief difficulty is to determine the effect of these savings. By the Housing Act, 1919, the basis on which the value of insanitary property is to be assessed is, roughly speaking, the site value of the land, and it is difficult to conceive the circumstances in which the value assessed according to the rules contained in the Act of 1890 could be less. The Committee have therefore omitted the saving contained in Section 9 (2) of the Housing Act, 1919, as introducing an entirely unnecessary complication. (If the saving for the provisions of the Act of 1890 would never be operative to reduce the assessment, the local authorities will not be damnified by the omission, nor can the position of property owners be worsened by the omission of the provision which was introduced for the benefit of the local authorities and of the local authorities alone.)

The Committee have also omitted the provision in Section 7 of the Act of 1903 (which provided that the prohibition against making an allowance on account of purchase being compulsory should not apply in the case of land bought for the purpose of making the scheme efficient) as being superseded by the Assessment of Compensation Act, 1919.

CLAUSE 56.

The Committee had to determine how the provisions of 1890, which regulate relations between the London County Council and the metropolitan borough councils in the case of

(a) improvement schemes initiated by the London County Council; and

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