Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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ELBERFELD. 227 lighting of the approaches, &c. The local rule at Elberfeld is yearly tenancies as from the first of May, and save in exceptional cases rents are paid at the end of each fortnight or month. Elberfeld cannot by any means claim to be free from slums. In a town with so many antiquated buildings of the timber and plaster type, buildings crowded together end to end and back to back without regard to considerations of space, air, and light, such an immunity would be impossible. The old Berg houses are from the standpoint of sanitation very defective, but perhaps the least desmible dwellings are found in the quarters of the town inhabited by the poorly paid workers in the chemical industry. Yet the public authority is keenly alive to the sanitary aspect of the housing question, and its efficient system of inspection, carried out by specially trained officers, powerfully supports the efforts of the sanitary and building departments of the municipal service. This system of inspection was introduced in 1899, and the first thorough investi gation covered nearly four years, as a result of which 1Y8 per cent, of the dwellings visited had to be scheduled for attention. A second inspection in 1903 led to complaints being addressed to the users or occupiers of 112 per cent, of the dwellings visited ; in 1904 the percentage was 12. In the latter year the grounds of complaint were as follows:—(1) Too little light in the bedroom, 23*7 per cent, of the whole ; (2) Insufficient air space in the bedrooms, 24 7 per cent. ; (3) Persons of different sex sleeping in the same room contrary to regulations, 40 per cent. ; (4) A combination of the complaints 2 and 3, 115 per cent. These figures disregard damp, defective water-closet accommodation, contravention of the lodger regulations, &c. The taking of lodgers is not made directly dependent on police permission, except when persons of different sex are taken, but it is required that notice shall be given to the police within six days where rooms are to let, stating how many lodgers are taken and how they are housed. It is forbidden to let to lodgers rooms which communicate, even by a locked door, with the living and bedrooms of the rest of the household. The same space per person, viz., 343 cubic feet, must be provided as is prescribed in the case of bedrooms generally, and a separate bed must be provided for each lodger. In 1904, 1,188 rooms were let in 700 dwellings to 2,378 lodgers ; in 1903, 1,220 rooms were let to 2,425 lodgers in 661 dwellings. Kents have for some years been declining on account of overbuilding, induced by excessive speculation, which in its turn was encouraged by the low rate of mortgage interest, and the professional house-owner complains that the present rents, taken in conjunction with the high local taxes, makes his vocation a very unremunerative one. The following table shows the predominant rents of the two and three- roomed working-class tenements of which the rents were obtained for the purposes of this report :— Number of Rooms per Tenement. Predominant Weekly Rent. Two rooms Three rooms 2s. Gcf. to 3s. 6d. 4s. to 5s. 9d. Kent at Berlin being represented by 100, the corresponding figure for Elberfeld is 57. The municipal income tax falls on all incomes exceeding £21. In the case of incomes liable to the State income tax, viz., those exceeding £45, the local super-tax was 200 per cent, of the State tax in 1906. Lower incomes were assessed at assumed rates of 2s. 4 - 8d. on amounts between £21 and £33, and 45. on amounts between £33 and £45, and the local super-tax was 125 and 150 29088 2 F 2

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