Metropolitan Buildings Act 1844
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
(7 & 8 Vict.) C A P. LXXXIV.
[9th August 1844]
'WHEREAS by the several Acts mentioned in Schedule (A.) to this Act annexed Provisions are made for regulating the Construction of Buildings in the Metropolis, and the Neighbourhood thereof, within certain Limitstherein set forth; but forasmuch as Buildings have since been extended in nearly continuous Lines or Streets far beyond such Limits, so that they do not now include all the Places to which the Provisions of such Acts, according to the Purposes thereof, ought to apply, and moreover such Provisions require Alteration and Amendment, it is expedient to extend such Limits, and otherwise to amend such Acts: And forasmuch as in many Parts of the Metropolis and the Neighbourhood thereof the Drainage of the Houses is so imperfect as to endanger the Health of the Inhabitants, it is expedient to make Provision for facilitating and promoting the Improvement of such Drainage: And forasmuch as by reason of the Narrowness of Streets, Lanes, and Alleys, and the Wantof a Thoroughfare in many Places, the due Ventilation of crowded Neighbourhoods is often impeded, and the Health of the Inhabitants thereby endangered, and from the close Contiguity of the opposite Houses the Risk of Accident by Fire is extended, it is expedient to make Provision with regard to the Streets and other Ways of the Metropolis for securing a sufficient Width thereof: And forasmuch as many Buildingsand Parts of Buildings unfit for Dwellings are used for that Purpose, whereby Disease is engendered, fostered, and propagated, it is expedient to discourage and prohibit such Usethereof: And forasmuch as by the carrying on in populous Neighbourhoods of certain Works, in which Materials of an explosive or inflammable Kind are used, the Risk of Accidents arising from such Works is much increased, it is expedient to regulate not only the Construction of the Buildings in which such dangerous Works are carried on, but also to provide for the same being carried on in Buildings at safe Distances from other Buildings which are used either for Habitation or for Trade in populous Neighbourhoods: And forasmuch as by the carrying on of certain Works of a noisome Kind, or in which deleterious Materials are used, or deleterious Products are created, the Health and Comfort of the Inhabitantsare extensively impaired and endangered, it is expedient to make Provision for the Adoption of all such Expedients as either have been or shall be devised for carrying on such Businesses, so as to render them as little noisome or deleterious as possible to the Inhabitants of the Neighbourhood; and if there be no such Expedients, or if such Expedients be not available in a sufficient Degree, then for the carrying on of such noisome and unwholesome Businesses at safer Distances from other Buildings used for Habitation: And forasmuch as great Diversity of Practice has obtained among the Officers appointed in pursuance of the said Acts to superintend the Execution thereof in the several Districtsto which such Acts apply, and the Means at present provided for determining the numerous Matters in question which constantly arise tend to promote such Diversity, to increase the Expence, and to retard the Operations of Persons engaged in building, it is expedient to make further Provision for regulating the Office of Surveyor of such several Districts, and to provide for the Appointment of Officers to superintend the Execution of this Act throughout all the Districts to which it is to apply, and also to determine sundry Matters in question incident thereto, as well as to exercise in certain Cases, and under certain Cheeks and Control, a Discretion in the Relaxation of the fixed Rules, where the strict Observance thereof is impracticable, or would defeat the Object of this Act, or would needlessly affect with Injury the Course and Operation of this Branch of Business:' Now for all the several Purposes above mentioned, and for the Purpose of consolidating the Provisions of the Law relating to the Construction and the Use of Buildings in the Metropolis and its Neighbourhood, be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authorityof the same, That with regard to this Act generally, so far as relates to the Operation thereof in reference to Time, it shall come into operation at the following Times; (that is to say,) as to the Districts and the Officers to be appointed in pursuance hereof on the First Day ofSeptember next, and as to the Buildings, Streets, and other Matters on the First Day of January One thousand eight hundred and forty-five; and that on the said First DayofJanuary all the Acts mentioned in the Schedule hereunto annexed, except so far as in the said Schedule is provided, shall be and are hereby repealed.
II Construction of Terms.
II. And be it declared, with regard to this Act generally, so far as relates to the Construction of certain Terms and Expressions used therein, That the following Terms and Expressions are intended to have the Meanings hereby assigned to them respectively, so far as such Meanings are not excluded by the Context, or by the Nature of the Subject Matter; (that is to say,)
The Word ‘Street’ to include every Square, Circus, Crescent, Street, Road, Place, Row, Mews, Lane,or Place along which Carriages can pass or are intended to pass, and that whether there be or be not, in addition to the Carriageway, a Footway, paved or otherwise:
The Word ‘Alley’ to include any Court, Alley, Passage, or other public Placewhich can be used as a Footway only:
The Word ‘Square,’ as applied to any Area of Building, to contain One hundred Superficial Feet:
The Word ‘Floor’ to mean the horizontal Platform forming the Base of any Story, and to include the Timber or Bricks or any other Substance constituting such Platform:
The Word ‘Story’ to include the full Thickness of such Floor, as well as the Spacebetween the upper Surface of one Floor and the under Surface of the Floor next above it; or if there be no Floor then the Space between the Surface of the Ground and the under Surface of the Floor next above it:
The Term ‘external Wall’ to apply to every outer Wall of Buildingsnow built or hereafter to be built, which (excepting the Footing thereof on one Side) shall stand wholly upon Ground of the Owner of such Buildings, and shall not be used or intended to be used as a Party Wall under the Definition herein-after contained, whether the same shall adjoin or not to other outer or to Party Walls:
The Term ‘Party Wall’ to apply to every Wallwhich shall be used, or be built in order to be used, as a Separation of Two or more Buildings with a view to the Occupation thereof by different Families, or which shall be actually occupied by different Families, and also every Wall which shall stand upon Ground not wholly belonging to the same Owner to a greater Extent than the Projection of its Footing on one Side:
The Term ‘already built,’ used in reference to Buildings, to apply to Buildings built before the FirstDay ofJanuary One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, or commenced before that Day, and covered in and rendered fit for Usewithin Twelve Months thereafter; and, used in reference to Streets and Alleys, to apply to all Streets or Alleys made or laid out before that Day, and which shall be formed and rendered fit for Use within Twelve Months thereafter:
The Term‘hereafter to be built,’ used in reference to Buildings, to apply to all Buildings to be built or commenced after the First Day ofJanuary One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, or which, being commenced, shall not be covered in within Twelve Months thereafter; and, used in reference to Streets and Alleys, to apply to all Streets or Alleys not laid out before the said First Day of January , or which, being laid out, shall not be rendered fit for Use within Twelve Months thereafter:
The Word‘Parish’ to include all parochial Districts and extra-parochial Places in which separate Churchwardens, Overseers, or Constables are appointed; and where Two Parishes have been united for Ecclesiastical Purposes, then to include such united Parishes:
The Word‘Owner’ to apply generally to every Person in possession or receipt either of the whole or of any Part of the Rents or Profits of any Ground or Tenement, or in the Occupation of such Ground or Tenement, other than as a Tenant from Year to Year, or for any less Term, or a Tenant at Will:
The Term‘Official Referees’ to mean the Persons appointed in pursuance of this Act to be Official Referees of Metropolitan Buildings:
The Word‘Surveyor’ to apply to all Surveyors to be appointed in pursuance of this Act, or whose Appointment is confirmed by this Act, and also to all Deputy or Assistant Surveyors to be appointed under this Act:
The Words‘the Surveyor,’ used without any Addition, to mean the Surveyor in whose District the Buildings, Street or Alley, or other Subject Matter shall be, or any Deputy or Assistant Surveyor duly acting in his Behalf:
The Word‘Month’ to mean a Calendar Month:
The Expression‘the Commissioners of Works and Buildings’ to mean the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works, and Buildings:
The Expression ‘Justice of the Peace’ to mean a Justice of the Peace for the County, Division, or Liberty within which the Building or other Subject Matter, or any Part thereof, is situate; unless it be situate within the CityofLondon or the Liberties thereof, in reference to which any Matter or Thing elsewhere required or authorized to be done, either by One or by Two or more Justices of the Peace, may be done, either by the Lord Mayor of the City of London , or by any...
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