Cost and standard of living -- England -- London; London (England) -- Economic conditions; Working class -- England -- London
The kind of dwelling to be had for 7s. or 8s. a week varies in several
ways. If it be light, dry, and free from bugs, if it be central in
position, and if it contain three rooms, it will be eagerly sought
for and hard to find. Such places exist in some blocks of workmen’s
dwellings, and applications for them are waiting long before a vacancy
occurs, provided, of course, that they are in a convenient district.
There are even sets of three very small rooms at a rental of 5s. 6d. in
one or two large buildings. These are few in number, snapped up, and tend
to go to the man with not too large a family and in a recognised and
permanent position.
Perhaps the next best bargain after such rooms in blocks of workmen’s
dwellings is a portion of a small house. These small houses are let
at rents varying from 10s. to 15s., according to size, condition, and
position. They are let to a tenant who is responsible to the landlord for
the whole rent, and who sublets such rooms as she can do without in order
to get enough money for the rent-collector. She is often a woman with
five or six children, who would not, on account of her large family,
be an acceptable subtenant. If she is a good woman of business, it is
sometimes possible for her to let her rooms advantageously, and stand
in herself at a low rental—as rents go in Lambeth. But there is always
a serious risk attached to the taking of a whole house—the risk of not
being able to sublet, or, if there are tenants, of being unable to make
them pay. Many a woman who nominally stands at a rent of 6s. or 6s. 6d.
for the rooms which she keeps for her own use is actually paying 11s. to
15s. a week, or is running into debt at the rate of 5s. to 10s. a week
because of default on the part of her lodgers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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