Section 26 Byelaws respecting houses divided into separate tenements
The power of making and enforcing byelaws under section ninety of the Public Health Act, 1875, and section ninety-four of the 54 & 55 Vict. c. 76.Public Health (London) Act, 1891, shall in the case of houses intended or used for occupation by the working classes be deemed to include the making and enforcing of byelaws—
for fixing and from time to time varying the number of persons who may occupy a house or part of a house which is let in lodgings or occupied by members of more than one family and for separation of the sexes therein;
for the registration and inspection of such houses ;
for enforcing drainage and promoting cleanliness and ventilation of such houses ;
for requiring provision adequate for the use of and readily accessible to each family of—
closet accommodation ;
water supply and washing accommodation ;
accommodation for the storage, preparation, and cooking of food ;
and, where necessary, for securing separate accommodation as aforesaid for every part of such house which is occupied as a separate dwelling ;
for the keeping in repair and adequate lighting of any common staircase in such houses ;
for securing stability, and the prevention of and safety from fire ;
for the cleansing and redecoration of the premises at stated times, and for the paving of the courts and courtyards ;
for the provision of handrails, where necessary, for all staircases of such houses ;
for securing the adequate lighting of every room in such houses ;
and any such byelaws, in addition to any other penalty, may prohibit the letting for occupation by members of more than one family of any such house unless the same are complied with, subject in the case of houses so let or occupied at the time when such byelaws come into force to the allowance of a reasonable time for the execution of any works necessary to comply therewith.
Such byelaws may impose the duty of executing any work required to comply therewith upon the owner within the meaning of the Public Health Acts of any such house, or upon any other person having an interest in the premises, and may prescribe the circumstances and conditions in and subject to which any such duty is to be discharged.
For the purpose of discharging any duty so imposed, the owner or other person may at all reasonable times enter upon any part of the premises, and section fifty-one of the principal Act shall apply as if for the reference to the provisions of Part II of that Act there were substituted a reference to the provisions of such byelaws, and as if the person on whom such duty is imposed were the owner and any inmate of the premises were the occupier of a dwelling-house.
Where an owner or other person has failed to execute any work which he has been required to execute under the byelaws, the local authority by whom such byelaws are enforced may, after giving to him not less than twenty-one days' notice in writing, themselves execute the works and recover the costs and expenses, and for that purpose the provisions of subsection (5) of section fifteen of the Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act, 1909, with respect to the execution of works and the recovery of expenses by local authorities, shall apply as if the owner or other person were the landlord, and with such other adaptations as may be necessary.
If in the opinion of the Local Government Board premises are being occupied by members of more than one family or are intended to be converted for such occupation in the district of any local authority, and either no byelaws have been made by the local authority for the purposes specified in subsection (1) of this section, or the byelaws made are not sufficient properly to regulate such occupation or conversion, the Local Government Board may themselves make byelaws for such purposes which shall have effect and shall be enforced as if they had been made by the local authority.
Where the person on whom obligations are imposed by any byelaws made for the purposes specified in subsection (1) of this section with respect to houses so occupied as aforesaid holds the premises under a lease or agreement and satisfies the local authority that compliance with such byelaws is contrary to the provisions of the lease or agreement, or that the whole or any part of the expenses of carrying out the obligations ought to be borne by his lessor or other superior landlord, the local authority may make application to the county court, and the county court may, after giving the lessor or any such superior landlord an opportunity of being heard,—
In the first case, order that the provisions of the lease or agreement be relaxed so far as they are inconsistent with the requirements of the byelaws ;
in the second case, grant to the person who carries out the works necessary for compliance with the byelaws, on proof to the satisfaction of the local authority that the works have been properly carried out, a charging order charging on the premises an annuity to repay the expenses properly incurred in carrying out the works or such part of those expenses as the county court consider ought to be so charged.
The annuity shall be of such amount and extend over such number of years as the county court may determine.
Subsection (3) of section thirty-six and section thirty-seven except subsection (4) of the principal Act, and section nineteen of the Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act, 1909, shall apply to charging orders and annuities under this section in like manner as to charging orders and annuities under the said section thirty-six.
Where a local authority have themselves acquired a leasehold interest in any house under the powers conferred upon them by this Act, the Local Government Board, on the application of the local authority, may make a similar order with regard to the relaxation of the provisions of the lease and to charging an annuity oh the premises as might, had the lessee not been the local authority, have been made on the application of the local authority by the county court, and in that case the decision of the Local Government Board as to the amount and duration of any such annuity shall be final.
This section shall apply to the administrative county of London with the following modifications :—
As respects the county of London, the byelaws for the purposes specified in subsection (1) of this section shall be made by the London County Council, and any byelaws so made shall supersede any byelaws made for those purposes by the council of any metropolitan borough, . and shall be observed and enforced by the council of each metropolitan borough except as regards byelaws for the purposes specified in paragraph (f) of subsection (1) which shall be enforced by the London County Council ;
As respects the City of London, such byelaws shall be made and enforced by the common council except as regards byelaws for the purposes specified in paragraph (f) of subsection (1), which shall be made and enforced by the London County Council.