Housing Act 1985

Part XIIE+W Common Lodging Houses

IntroductoryE+W

401 Meaning of “common lodging house”.E+W

In this Part “common lodging house” means a house (other than a public assistance institution) provided for the purpose of accommodating by night poor persons, not being members of the same family, who resort to it and are allowed to occupy one common room for the purpose of sleeping or eating, and includes, where part only of a house is so used, the part so used.

Regulation of common lodging housesE+W

402 No person to keep a common lodging house unless registered.E+W

No person shall keep a common lodging house, or receive a lodger in a common lodging house, unless he is registered as the keeper of the house under this Part.

403 Register of common lodging house keepers and their houses.E+W

The local housing authority shall keep a register in which shall be entered—

(a)the full names and the place of residence of every person registered as the keeper of a common lodging house;

(b)the situation of every such lodging house;

(c)the number of persons authorised to be received in the lodging house; and

(d)the full names and places of residence of any persons who are to act as deputies of the keeper of the lodging house.

404 Provisions with respect to registration.E+W

(1)Subject to the following provisions of this section, a local housing authority, on receiving from a person an application in writing—

(a)for registration as a keeper of a common lodging house, or

(b)for the renewal of his registration,

shall register the applicant in respect of the common lodging house named in the application, or renew his registration in respect of it, and issue to him a certificate of registration or renewal

(2)The authority shall not register an applicant until an officer of the authority has inspected the premises named in the application and has made a report on them.

(3)The authority may refuse to register, or renew the registration of, an applicant if they are satisfied that—

(a)he, or a person employed or proposed to be employed by him at the common lodging house, as a deputy or otherwise, is not a fit person, whether by reason of his age or otherwise, to keep or to be employed at a common lodging house; or

(b)the premises are not suitable for use as a common lodging house or are not, as regards sanitation and water supply and in other respects, including means of escape in case of fire, suitably equipped for such use; or

(c)the use of the premises as a common lodging house is likely to occasion inconvenience or annoyance to persons residing in the neighbourhood.

(4)The registration of a person as a keeper of a common lodging house remains in force for such period, not exceeding 13 months, as may be fixed by the authority, but may be renewed by them for a period not exceeding 13 months at any one time.

(5)If a local housing authority refuse to grant or renew registration, they shall, if required by the applicant, give him a statement in writing of the grounds on which his application is refused.

(6)A local housing authority shall at any time, on the application of a person registered as the keeper of a common lodging house—

(a)remove from the register the name of any person entered in it as a deputy of the keeper, or

(b)insert the name of any other person (being a person approved by the authority) whom the keeper proposes to employ as a deputy,

and shall make any consequential alterations in the certificate of registration.

405 Appeals against refusal of registration.E+W

(1)A person aggrieved by the refusal of a local housing authority under section 404 to grant or renew registration may appeal to a magistrates’ court.

(2)The time within which an appeal may be brought is 21 days from the date on which notice of the authority’s refusal was served on the person desiring to appeal; and for the purposes of this subsection the making of the complaint shall be deemed to be the bringing of the appeal.

(3)Where such an appeal lies, the document notifying to the person concerned the decision of the authority in the matter shall state the right of appeal to a magistrates’ court and the time within which such an appeal may be brought.

(4)A person aggrieved by a decision of a magistrates’ court on such an appeal may appeal to the Crown Court.

(5)Where on an appeal under this section a court varies or reverses the authority’s decision, the authority shall make any necessary entry in the register and issue any necessary certificate.

406 Byelaws as to common lodging houses.E+W

A local housing authority may, and if so required by the Secretary of State shall, make byelaws—

(a)for fixing the number of persons who may be received into a common lodging house, and for the separation of the sexes in it;

(b)for promoting cleanliness and ventilation in common lodging houses, and requiring the walls and ceilings of such lodging houses to be limewashed, or treated with some other suitable preparation, at specified intervals;

(c)with respect to the taking of precautions when any case of infectious disease occurs in such a lodging house and

(d)generally for the well-ordering of such lodging houses.

407 Management and control of common lodging houses.E+W

(1)The keeper of a common lodging house shall, if required by the local housing authority to do so, affix, and keep affixed and undefaced and legible, a notice with the words “Registered Common Lodging-house” in some conspicuous place on the outside of the house.

(2)Either the keeper of the lodging house, or a deputy registered under this Part, shall manage the lodging house and exercise supervision over persons using it, and either the keeper or a deputy so registered shall be at the lodging house continuously between the hours of nine o’clock in the evening and six o’clock in the morning of the following day.

(3)The local housing authority may by notice require the keeper of a common lodging house in which beggars or vagrants are received to report daily to them, or to such persons as they may direct, every lodger who resorted to the house during the preceding day or night.

(4)An authority who require such reports to be made shall supply to the keeper of the lodging house schedules to be filled up by him with the information required and to be transmitted by him in accordance with their notice.

(5)The keeper of a common lodging house, and every other person having the care or taking part in the management of it, shall at all times, if required by an authorised officer of the local housing authority, allow him to have free access to all parts of the house.

408 Offences.E+W

(1)It is a summary offence for a person—

(a)to contravene or fail to comply with any of the provisions of this Part;

(b)being the registered keeper of a common lodging house, to fail to keep the premises suitably equipped for use as such;

(c)to apply to be registered as the keeper of a common lodging house at a time when he is, under section 409, disqualified from being so registered; or

(d)in an application for registration, or for the renewal of his registration, as the keeper of a common lodging house, to make a statement which he knows to be false.

(2)A person committing such an offence is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding [F1level 2] on the standard scale and, subject to subsection (3), to a further fine not exceeding [F2one-tenth of the amount corresponding to that level] for each day on which the offence continues after conviction.

(3)The court by which a person is convicted of the original offence may fix a reasonable period from the date of conviction for compliance by the defendant with any directions given by the court and, where a court has fixed such a period, the daily penalty is not recoverable in respect of any day before the period expires.

409 Power of court on conviction to cancel registration and to disqualify for re-registrationE+W

Where the registered keeper of a common lodging house is convicted of—

(a)an offence under this Part or a byelow made under it, or

(b)an offence under section 39(2) or 49(2) of the M1Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (failure to notify case of infectious disease or failure to comply with closing order made on account of notifiable disease),

the court by which he is convicted may cancel his registration as a common lodging house keeper and may order that he be disqualified for such period as the court thinks fit from being again registered as such a keeper.

EnforcementE+W

410 Duty of local housing authority to enforce this Part.E+W

(1)The local housing authority shall carry this Part into execution.

(2)Sections 322 to 326 of the M2Public Health Act 1936 (default powers of Secretary of State and related provisions) apply in relation to failure by a local housing authority to discharge their functions under this Part.

411 Powers of entry.E+W

(1)An authorised officer of a local housing authority may at any reasonable time, on giving 24 hours’ notice of his intention to the occupier and producing, if so required, some duly authenticated document showing his authority, enter premises for the purpose—

(a)of ascertaining whether there is, or has been, on or in connection with the premises, any contravention of the provisions of this Part or of any byelaw made under it;

(b)of ascertaining whether circumstances exist which would authorise or require the authority to take any action under this Part or any such byelaws;

(c)for the purpose of taking any action authorised or required by this Part or any such byelaws to be taken by the authority; or

(d)generally, for the purpose of the performance by the authority of their functions under this Part or any such byelaws.

(2)If it is shown to the satisfaction of a justice of the peace on sworn information in writing that there is reasonable ground for entry into premises for any of the purposes mentioned in subsection (1) and—

(a)that admission to premises has been refused, or that refusal is apprehended,

(b)that the premises are unoccupied or the occupier is temporarily absent, or

(c)that the case is one of urgency or that an application for admission would defeat the object of the entry,

he may, by warrant under his hand, authorise the authority by any authorised officer to enter the premises, by force if need be.

(3)A warrant shall not be issued unless the justice is satisfied either—

(a)that notice of the intention to apply for a warrant has been given to the occupier, or

(b)that the premises are unoccupied, the occupier is temporarily absent, the case is one of urgency, or the giving of such notice would defeat the object of the entry.

(4)An authorised officer entering premises by virtue of this section, or of a warrant issued under this section, may take with him such other persons as may be necessary; and on leaving any unoccupied premises which he has entered by virtue of such a warrant shall leave them as effectually secured against trespassers as he found them.

(5)A warrant granted under this section continues in force until the purpose for which the entry is necessary has been satisfied.

412 Penalty for obstruction.E+W

(1)It is a summary offence for a person [F3intentionally] to obstruct a person acting in the execution of this Part or of any byelaw or warrant made or issued under it.

(2)A person committing such an offence is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding [F4level 3] on the standard scale.

413 Restriction on right to prosecute.E+W

Proceedings in respect of an offence created by or under this Part shall not, without the written consent of the Attorney General, be taken by any person other than a party aggrieved or the local housing authority.

Supplementary provisionsE+W

414 Evidence in legal proceedings.E+W

(1)If in proceedings under this Part it is alleged that the inmates of a house or part of a house are members of the same family, the burden of proving that allegation rests on the person by whom it is made.

(2)In proceedings under this Part a document purporting to be a copy of an entry in the register of common lodging houses and purporting to be certified as such by the proper officer of the local housing authority shall be prima facie evidence of the matters recorded in the entry.

(3)The proper officer of the local housing authority shall supply such a certified copy free of charge to any person who applies for it at a reasonable hour.

415 Power to apply provisions to Crown propertyE+W

Section 341 of the M3Public Health Act 1936 (power to apply provisions to Crown property) applies to the provisions of this Part as it applies to provisions of that Act.

416 Index of defined expressions: Part XII.E+W

The following Table shows provisions defining or otherwise explaining expressions used in this Part (other than provisions defining or explaining an expression used in the same section):—