Housing related Acts index

• 1935 Housing Act (UK Parliament) It required every local authority to submit a programme of building and demolition aimed at eliminating slums from their area.
• 1933 Housing Act (Financial Provisions) (UK Parliament) It ended subsidies for general housing, that were present in the Greenwood Act, authorities were required to concentrate their efforts on slum clearance.
• 1930 Housing Act (Greenwood's Act) (UK Parliament) Encouraged mass slum clearance and councils set to work to demolish poor quality housing and replace it with new build. Populations of more than 20,000 needed to prepare 5 yr plan to deal with slums. Houses created were smaller and narrow fronted, no trees, expenditures had dropped 40%
• 1929 Housing (Revision of Contributions) Act (UK Parliament)
• 1925 Law of Property Act (UK Parliament) Passed with Land Registration Act, the Trustee Act 1925, the Settled Land Act 1925 and the Land Charges Act 1925
• 1924 Housing (Financial Provisions) Act (Wheatley Act) (UK Parliament) The Act allowed central government to provide subsidies to build public housing.
• 1923 Housing Act (UK Parliament) Reduced the housing subsidy to local authorities
• 1919 Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act 1919 (Addison Act) (UK Parliament): The Act was passed to allow the building of new houses after World War I. Provided subsidies to local authorities to help finance the construction of 500,000 houses within three years (only 213,800 homes were built). This legislation subsidised the cost of council housing from three sources: rents, local authority rates, and a grant from the state (previously there had not been no subsidies).
• 1885 Housing of the Working Classes Act (UK Parliament) Consolidated and amended Shaftesbury, Torrens, and Cross Acts. Lodging houses were redefined to include separate dwellings for labouring classes. The interests for Public Works Loan Board lowered.
• 1884 London Building Act (London County Council (LCC)/ Banister Fletcher)
• 1882 Artisans’ Dwellings Act (UK Parliament) Combined Torrens' and Cross' Act and aimed to improve the procedures for purchase, demolition and re-housing.
• 1875 Artizans’ and Labourers’ Dwellings Improvement Act (Cross' Acts) (UK Parliament) Carried out by the Metropolitan Board of Works and the City Commissioners of Sewers. The act controlled the clearance of slums and aimed to build replacement dwellings for the working-classes. They requested that the local Medical Officer of Health for the vestry or district should prepare a report comparing the mortality rate within area with other parishes. Justification for clearance was usually based solely on high mortality rates.
• 1868 Torrens' Act (UK Parliament) This Act made housing owners responsible to demolish or repair insanitary dwellings and to keep their properties in a habitable state.
• 1868 Artizans and Labourers Dwelling Act
• 1858 Local Government Act (UK Parliament) Local authorities had the power to make and adopt building byelaws as a means of controlling the construction of building.
• 1851 Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Act (UK Parliament) Allowed local authorities to borrow money to set up and operate lodging houses for the labouring classes.
• 1851 Common Lodging Houses Act (Shaftesbury Act) (UK Parliament): Considered by some as the first housing legislation. It gave boroughs and vestries the power to raise funds via local rates or Public Works Loan Commissioners to build lodging houses for unmarried working people.
• 1848 Public Health Act (UK Parliament): Act was passed after much campaigning by the Health of Towns Association, and another severe outbreak of cholera in 1848. It established a Central Board of Health (limited powers and no money). Those boroughs that had already formed a Corporation were to assume responsibility for drainage, water supplies, and paving. Loans could be made for public health infrastructure which were paid back from the rates.
• 1847 Towns Improvement Clauses Act (UK Parliament): Act for paving, draining, cleansing, lighting, and improving towns.
• 1840 Building Act (Parliament of Great Britain): The Act enables the regulation requirements to be altered and improved without further parliamentary improvement.
• 1774 Building Act (Fires Prevention (Metropolis) Act) (Parliament of Great Britain): Categorised urban houses into different rates defined by the value of the property and its total floor area. It standardised the quality and construction of buildings and made the exterior of a building as fire-proof as possible, by restricting any superfluous exterior timber ornamentation except for door frames and shop fronts. Appointment of District Surveyors to supervise the Building Laws.
• 1772 The London Building Act (Parliament of Great Britain): Established party wall requirements.
• 1667 Rebuilding of the City of London(Parliament of Great Britain): The Act proposed that all new buildings had to be constructed of brick or stone for fire safety. It also imposed a maximum number of storeys per house for a fixed number of abodes to eliminate overcrowding.