Part 162

_Distress._--If the rent is not duly paid as above mentioned the landlord may himself, or by an agent or bailiff, seize all the goods on the premises, with certain exceptions stated below, and may hold them until the rent is paid, or sell them as hereinafter mentioned. The landlord will be liable to an action if goods are seized beyond such a quantity as may be reasonably expected by him to satisfy the rent and expenses, or if the seizure is proceeded with after such a sum has been tendered to him; and if he distrains where no rent is due, and sells the goods, he is liable for double their value. A distress cannot be made between sunset and sunrise, nor can the person distraining break into the house or get in through a chimney, but he may enter through an open window or door, or through a door which he can open from the outside by turning the handle or raising the latch in the ordinary way, and once he has lawfully entered he may break open inner doors. He may not distrain fixtures, gas or water fittings let by the companies to the tenant, goods of strangers which have been delivered to the tenant to be worked upon or taken care of in the way of the tenant’s business, perishable commodities, such as butcher’s meat, or things in actual use at the time of the distress, or perhaps dogs; nor, if there be other things liable and of sufficient value, may he seize the instruments of the trade or profession carried on by any member of the household. Property of the tenant removed fraudulently to avoid distress after sunrise of the rent-day may be followed by the bailiff, and seized at any time within 30 days after removal.

The tenant is entitled to 5 days of grace after seizure in which to pay the rent and expenses, thereby dismissing the bailiff, and recovering all his property. Failing this, the bailiff will call in two appraisers to value the goods, putting a memorandum of the value upon the inventory; the goods may then be sold for the best price that can be got.

When the distraint is for an amount not exceeding 20_l._, the costs are thus limited--levying distress, 3_s._; man in possession, 2_s._ 6_d._ a day; advertisements, if any, 10_s._; appraisement, 6_d._ in the £, and for the stamp, 1_s._, expenses of sale, 1_s._ in the £ on the net proceeds. In case of excess charges, apply to a justice of the peace. When the rent due is more than 20_l._ there are no defined rules as to costs, which must, however, be reasonable in amount, being usually one or two guineas for the levy, and 3_s._ 6_d._ a day for the man in possession.

It will be seen that the goods of undertenants are liable to distress for rent due by the middleman to the head landlord. Lodgers, however, are specially favoured by Act of Parliament in such a case, but the proceedings necessary to protect their goods are very troublesome. The lodger must deliver to the bailiff a written and signed inventory of his property, with a declaration that he is in lawful possession of it, and that the tenant has no right or interest in any of it; also stating what amount of rent is due from the lodger to the tenant. If the lodger owes any rent he must pay it to the bailiff or landlord instead of to the tenant. If the bailiff or landlord still proceeds with the seizure, the lodger should at once apply to a magistrate for an order for restoration of the property. If the lodger is absent, and leaves no person authorised to act for him during the seizure and succeeding 5 days, his goods are liable to be seized and sold.

Lodgers are liable to distress by their own landlord like other tenants; but in furnished lodgings with attendance, the distress must be limited to the rent of the rooms, and not include the charges for attendance or “extras,” or for food supplied.

_Rates and Taxes._--These are almost invariably, if not always, payable in the first instance by the tenant, but he may always deduct any property-tax which he has paid from the next payment of rent, and he may also, unless he has agreed to the contrary, deduct any payment for land-tax or sewers rate, or for tithe rent-charge. If payment is not made on demand, the ratepayer must take or send the amount to the collector. In case of non-payment, the ratepayer is liable without notice to be summoned before the magistrates. If the rates are then paid before the time appointed to hear the case, the expense is trifling, but otherwise it is considerable. Magistrates have power to authorise an immediate distraint on goods to the amount of rates and costs; and if sufficient goods cannot be found on the premises of the ratepayer, he is liable to imprisonment.

_Determination of Tenancy._--All tenancies may of course be put an end to at any time by mutual consent, though the consent should be declared in a deed if the tenancy was by deed. But without such consent a tenancy for a fixed period must continue according and subject to the special terms, if any, of the lease until the period expire when the tenancy comes to an end, and the tenant must give up possession, and may leave without any notice. Subject to any special agreement, a tenancy from year to year can be determined by one party only at the day of the year corresponding to that from which it was agreed that the tenancy should run by giving to the other a half year’s previous notice of his intention. If the tenancy runs from one of the usual quarter-days, then the necessary and sufficient notice is that which is given on or before the quarter-day next but one preceding that from which the tenancy runs. A quarter’s notice in a quarterly tenancy, a month’s notice in a monthly tenancy, and a week’s notice in a weekly tenancy are undoubtedly sufficient, and should be given so as to expire at the end of the current quarter, month, or week respectively of the tenancy. In the metropolis there seems to be a general custom as to weekly tenancies which renders a week’s notice necessary, and County Court judges usually so hold.

_Fixtures._--A tenant may during his occupation remove fixtures which he has put up at his own expense for ornament or domestic convenience, in such a way that they have not become a permanent part of the house. But if, on giving up possession of the house, he leaves any behind by mistake, he cannot re-enter to recover them; and if the incoming tenant once obtains possession, including the fixtures, he is entitled to detain and use them, unless he has expressly agreed to pay for them or deliver them up. Tenants may not pull down buildings or permanent structures which they have erected on their own responsibility, and must make good any damage done to the house by the removal of such fixtures as they are entitled to remove.

_Dilapidations._--Under the ordinary covenants by the tenant to keep and deliver up the premises in repair, it seems that the view generally taken by surveyors of his liability--which will extend to permanent erections made by the tenant himself--is as follows:--If the parts can be repaired they may be so treated; but if the decay or injury has gone so far as to render repairs insufficient to restore the usefulness of the part, it must be made good. Thus, among the items the tenant is called upon to make good is that of roofing; such as to replace all loose and broken tiles, to strip and retile where the laths are broken, or where the rafters, feet or purlins are decayed; to restore all defective filleting and pointing. Defective brickwork in walls, chimneys, shafts, parapets, and gables; portions out of the perpendicular, or bulged, or cracked, have to be made good, besides repointing where necessary, and refixing broken chimney pots. Slated roofs also come under the same general clauses. Repairs to woodwork include such items as the following: Making good all loose or decayed timbers, whether injured by wet or dry-rot; to fix timbers where not straight, through neglect or decay; to secure and make good all loose, broken, or decayed weather boarding, frames, skylights, wooden gutters, dormer boarding, and other external work; also to make good broken or decayed wooden fences, door frames, &c.; to secure and make good all loose, broken, or rotten floors; to fix up and relay where not level, if by reason of neglect, and to rehang where required all doors and shutters; replace broken lines, repair sashes, nosings to stairs where defective, and treads. Questions are continually arising regarding the liability of tenants to repair joiners’ work, but it appears clear that the burden of repairs falls upon the tenant. With respect to masons’ work, all defective stonework of whatever description falls upon him. Thus, broken cornices, lintels, and sills have to be made good by filling-in pieces; also broken steps and landings, both inside and out. In case of broken nosings, or of treads worn down as to become dangerous, the piecing is to extend to cutting out the upper surface and filling in the depth of nosing with a slab of sufficient thickness to form a new nosing. Broken chimney pieces, slabs, and inner hearths are to be made good or relaid; and loose and sunken pavings to be taken up and relaid. All panes of glass having two cracks in them are to be reinstated, besides making good all putty work. With respect to painting, it is usual for the tenant to repaint all wood and ironwork for their preservation, and where defaced, also on stone, stucco, or other external work. Inside painting is exempted, except in cases of misuse. To other trades the same rules apply; all broken fittings, fixtures, and parts of buildings to be repaired or made good by the tenant. The term “to make good” implies a renewal of the part, and ought not to be confused with the general words “to repair.”

_Water._--Subject to anything in their special Act, a waterworks company having pipes in the street where the house is situate may be required by the occupier, with the consent in writing of the owner, and upon payment or tender of the water rate in advance, to make the needful communications, and are liable to forfeit 5_l._ for non-compliance within seven days. Due care must be exercised by the company to render the supply regular, but they are not responsible for discontinuance caused by frost, drought, or other unavoidable circumstance. The water must always be pure and wholesome, and in this connection it may be mentioned that water is nearly always purer as delivered by the company than as drawn from the householder’s cistern, owing to gross neglect to keep the latter clean. The company’s inspector may enter any day between 9 A.M. and 4 P.M. to examine the fittings, and the householder is liable to heavy fines for allowing water to be wasted or misused, or contaminated, besides having his supply cut off till the evil is remedied, and incurring all the cost incidental thereto. An incoming tenant should ascertain by application at the offices of the company whether the previous tenant is in arrears with his water rates, as it is said that in some districts the newcomer may be compelled to pay the deficit before getting a supply. This is certainly not the law in the metropolis, at all events, where the incoming tenant is expressly declared to be free from this liability, unless he has undertaken with his predecessor to pay the arrears. The company are bound under heavy penalties to keep a copy of their special act for inspection on payment of a fee of 1_s._ per hour. This will show the charges they are authorised to make, and the amount of the rate which is payable in advance and usually based on the annual value, i.e. the _net_ annual value, or about the same as the net rateable value appearing in the parochial rate-book.

_Gas._--Subject to anything in the special Act, the owner or occupier of a house within twenty-five yards of a gas main, may, by notice in writing, require the company to supply gas; they are bound by penalties to comply within a reasonable time, provided the occupier will agree to take gas for two years, and is ready to give security for payment of his rates. The companies must supply gas of a certain standard as regards purity and lighting power, but are not governed as to pressure, hence the householder’s only means of preventing the waste due to constantly changing pressure is to have a “regulator,” as described in another section (p. 88). Gas is supplied at a price per 1000 cubic feet used, the consumption being measured by a meter. This meter may be supplied by the gas company and a rental charged on it, the company keeping it in repair; or it may be supplied by the householder at his own cost for purchase and maintenance; but the householder must not alter the fixing or provide his own meter without 24 hours’ notice to the company. The company, in either case, have right of entry to examine the fittings at reasonable times. The householder is liable to heavy penalties in respect of waste or misuse of the gas or injury to the pipes, &c. Gas rates are usually delivered quarterly and are payable at once, failing which the company may proceed to recover and cut off supply, and may demand security for the future before renewing supply, cost of which will fall upon the householder. No incoming tenant is liable for rates unpaid by his predecessor unless he has undertaken to pay them. The company are bound under heavy penalties to keep a copy of their special Act for inspection on payment of a fee of 1_s._ per hour.

=Servants.=--A general or indefinite hiring of domestic or menial servants is said to be in law a hiring for a year, and the contract therefore, unless the service is to begin on the same day or the day following, ought, strictly to be in writing and signed; but it may be made out by the letters of the parties, and does not require any stamp. Wages, though reckoned by the year, are usually payable in monthly instalments, but sometimes quarterly or yearly.

The service may, however, be freely terminated at any time by either party giving to the other a month’s notice, or in lieu thereof paying a month’s wages; and it has been ruled that payment of board wages is _not_ necessary in the latter case. But the law is that where a servant is guilty of conduct which is inconsistent with the true and faithful discharge of his or her service, the master has a right of instant dismissal. Immorality, drunkenness, gross impertinence, disobedience, dishonesty of course, or incompetence to do the work contracted to be done, are all facts which may justify the master. Disobedience means a refusal to comply with a reasonable order within the scope of the servant’s duties--a housemaid cannot be required to groom a horse; nor is a servant bound to perform any service in which he reasonably apprehends injury to himself, and which he has not clearly agreed to perform. If your servant, when summarily dismissed, refuses to leave the house, you may turn him or her out of doors, if you feel yourself strong enough to do so; but, to avoid the risk of an unseemly scuffle, your best plan is to send for the police.

_Wages._--As to the wages of a servant who has been summarily dismissed upon legally sufficient ground, considerable misapprehension seems to prevail. Strictly speaking she is not only not entitled to a month’s wages in lieu of a month’s warning, but not to anything at all for the intervening period from the last regular pay day. Thus, if your cook, whose wages fell due and were paid on the 5th of March, so misconducts herself on the 1st of April as to justify her immediate discharge, she has no claim upon you for any wages between the 5th of March and the 1st of April. But if there is doubt as to your being able to prove the misconduct in court, it may often be better to pay a month’s wages and the accruing wages than to expose yourself to the risk of an action and the certainty of costs. Of course if the wages due on the 5th of March had not been paid on the 1st of April, your cook, badly as she might have since behaved, would not lose her right to them. If, on the other hand, you have discharged your servant for your own pleasure, so to speak, although you are not bound to keep her in your house a moment longer than suits you, she is entitled to the accruing wages up to the time when she was discharged, and to a calendar month’s wages in addition, but not to board wages for that period, as has been seen. In the absence of any agreement, the master is not liable to pay a discharged servant the expenses of her journey home.

_Breakages._--Servants have no right to break or damage their master’s property, and if it is proved that damage has been caused by any particular servant’s failure to use such care as it was reasonable, under all the circumstances, to require _from him_, being such as he is, he is liable in law to pay for the same. Formerly, no deductions from the servant’s wages could be made on this account, but recent reforms in legal procedure in effect permit them; but the master when sued for the balance of the full wages must counterclaim in respect of the damage, and had better consult a solicitor. The best plan is to have an express agreement on the subject that deductions may be made.

_Character._--A lady, when asked about the character of a servant in whose favour she cannot say much, would do well in the first place to ascertain that the request is made at the suggestion of the person whose character is in question. If it is, and if the lady takes care to speak only of what she knows, she will be safe enough; she will be acting fairly by both the persons interested. Of course, if she has only pleasant things to say, there is no difficulty in answering such inquiries; but if she cannot give a favourable answer, a stranger could not complain if she replied that she did not feel at liberty to discuss a person’s character without that person’s knowledge. Some people never give a character. This is most unfair, and indeed cruel, in the case of a servant whose reputation and competency are above reproach, for silence always implies that there is something which one would rather not mention. Silence is the appropriate refuge in the case of one who has given a reference which he was not justified in using. It is easy to say, in such a case, that the writer is afraid she cannot write such a testimonial as would prove of service to the applicant; but in all other cases it is always, practically as well as theoretically, safe to give a character, if it is given fairly and honestly. A character when given is a privileged communication; and, even if it be incorrect, unless the servant who thinks herself aggrieved can show that it was given with actual malice--as with knowledge of its falsity--she cannot succeed in an action for defamation. To sustain such an action and deprive the communication of its ordinary privilege, a strong case of malicious and officious interference to the detriment of the servant would require to be made out. But there is no privilege attaching to information given to a neighbour of what is going on in her household, if it was given in an idle, gossiping and malicious spirit, rather than with the honest intention of giving important information.

It is best always to interview the late mistress rather than apply by letter, and a little shrewdness in studying the character of the mistress is very desirable, for personal feeling takes the place of impartial judgment in most, if not all, women.

_Illness._--A master is not bound to provide medical attendance and medicine for even his menial servants; but if a servant falls ill, and the master voluntarily calls in his own medical man, he will not be allowed to deduct the charges for such attendance out of the servant’s wages unless the servant specially agrees that he may do so.

=The Householder.= _Parochial matters._--Parochial business is managed by a “vestry,” at which the parish clergyman has a right to preside. Public notice of vestry meetings must be given 3 days beforehand, and copies of the notice fixed to the principal doors of churches and chapels, signed by rector, vicar, churchwarden, or overseer. Every parishioner paying rates is entitled to votes. If assessed at or above 50_l._, he may give one vote for every 25_l._, but no individual can have more than 6 votes; no person can vote by proxy. The chairman has a casting vote. Churchwardens are chosen, in the first week after Easter, by joint consent of minister and parishioners, or one by the minister and another by the parishioners. Peers, members of Parliament, clergymen, dissenting ministers, medical men, and attorneys, are exempt from serving as churchwarden. Churchwardens are trustees of money given for the benefit of the church, and must attend to repairs of the church and fences of the churchyard. The pews in a parish church are the property of the parish; distribution rests with the bishop or the churchwardens. The churchwardens of a parish in which a dead body is cast ashore from the sea, must have it interred in the parish burial ground.

The local management of this country is far too elaborate to be even sketched here; for instance, the Public Health Act 1875 contains 343 sections, most of them of great length, and a variety of subsequent amendments further complicate things, while the metropolis has its own long series of enactments on the same part of the subject. The whole matter is one which requires special study of countless Acts of Parliament, based upon no theory in particular, and which will no doubt shortly be thoroughly revised and reformed. The householder desirous of information should have recourse to the officers of the local authority or some member of that body, and if he cannot thus get the satisfaction he wants he must recognise the inevitable result of the activity of his own representatives and consult his solicitor.

_Juries._--All “good and lawful men” are eligible and liable to be called on to serve on a coroner’s jury at an inquest held in the neighbourhood, and non-attendance of a duly-summoned person is punished with a fine which may amount to 5_l._