Proviso. floor except where the same is cemented, nor unless there be appur- Proviso. occupied for sion of board of SECT. 41. From and after the passage of this act, no vault, cellar, Cellars not to be or underground room, in any tenement or lodging house, shall be lodging, etc., exoccupied as a place of lodging or sleeping, except the same shall be cept by permis. approved in writing, and a permit given therefor by the board of health. health or superintendent. SECT. 42. Every tenement or lodging house shall have the proper Receptacle for and suitable conveniences or receptacles for receiving garbage and other refuse other refuse matters. No tenement or lodging house, or any portion matters. thereof, shall be used as a place of storage for any combustible article, or any article dangerous to life or detrimental to health; nor shall any horse, cow, calf, swine, pig, sheep, or goat be kept in said house. garbage and Tenement houses to be SECT. 43. Every tenement or lodging house, and every part thereof, shall be kept clean and free from any accumulation of dirt, kept clean. filth, garbage, or other matter, in or on the same, or in the yard, court, passage, area, or alley, connected with or belonging to the same. The owner or keeper of any lodging-house, and the owner or lessee of any tenement-house, or part thereof, shall thoroughly cleanse all the rooms, passages, stairs. floors, windows, doors, valls, ceilings, privies, cesspools, and drains thereof of the house, or part of the house, of which he is the owner or lessee, to the satisfaction of the board of health, so often as shall be required by or in accordance with any regulation or ordinance of said city, and shall well and sufficiently, to the satisfaction of said board, whitewash the walls and Walls and ceilceilings thereof twice at least every year, in the months of April and washed twice a October, unless the said board shall otherwise direct. Every tene- year. ment or lodging house shall have legibly posted or painted on the wall or door in the entry, or some public accessible place, the name and address of the owner or owners and of the agent or agents, or any one having charge of the renting and collecting of the rents for the same; and service of any papers required by this act, or by any proceedings to enforce any of its provisions, or of the acts relating ings to be white Keeper of lodg. ing-house and owner of tene ment to give free access to ofllcers; to the board of health, shall be sufficient, if made upon the person or persons so designated as owner or owners, agent or agents. SECT. 44. The keeper of any lodging-house, and the owner, agent of the owner, lessee and occupant of any tenement-house, and every other person having the care or management thereof, shall at all times, when required by any officer of the board of health, or by any officer upon whom any duty or authority is conferred by this act, -to give notice give him free access to such house and to every part thereof. The of contagious diseases, etc. Board of health may cause prem when unfit for babitation. owner or keeper of any lodging-house, and the owner, agent of the owner, and the lessee of any tenement-house, or part thereof, shall, whenever any person in such house is sick of fever, or of any infectious, pestilential, or contagious, disease, and such sickness is known to such owner, keeper, agent, or lessee, give immediate notice thereof to the board of health, or to some oflicer of the same, and thereupon said board shall cause the same to be inspected, and may, if found necessary, cause the same to be immediately cleansed or disinfected at the expense of the owner, in such manner as they may deem necessary and effectual; and they may also cause the blankets, bedding, and bedclothes, used by any such sick person to be thoroughly cleansed, scoured, and fumigated, and in extreme cases to be destroyed. SECT. 45. Whenever it shall be certified to the board of health by ises to be vacated the superintendent, that any building, or part thereof, is unfit for human habitation, by reason of its being so infected with disease as to be likely to cause sickness among the occupants, or by reason of its want of repair has become dangerous to life, said board may issue an order, and cause the same to be affixed conspicuously on the building, or part thereof, and to be personally served upon the owner, agent, or lessee, if the same can be found in this state, requiring all persons therein to vacate such building for the reasons to be stated therein as aforesaid. Tenement house, etc., not regulations are complied with. Such building, or part thereof, shall, within ten days thereafter, be vacated; or within such shorter time, not less than twenty-four hours, as in said notice may be specified; but said board, if it shall become satisfied that the danger from said house, or part thereof, has ceased to exist, may revoke said order, and it shall thenceforward become inoperative. SECT. 46. No house hereafter crected shall be used as a tenementto be used until house or lodging-house, and no house heretofore erected, and not now used for such purpose, shall be converted into, used, or leased for, a tenement or lodging house, unless in addition to the requirements herein before contained, it conforms to the requirements contained in the following sections. Distances requisite between walls of tenement-houses and other buildings. SECT. 47. It shall not be lawful hereafter to erect for, or convert to the purposes of, a tenement or lodging house, a building on the front of any lot where there is another building on the rear of the same lot, unless there is a clear, open space, exclusively belonging to the front building and extending upwards from the ground, of at least ten feet between said buildings, if they are one story high above the level of the ground; if they are two stories high, the distance between them shall not be less than fifteen feet; if they are three stories high, the distance between them shall be twenty feet; and if they are more than three stories high, the distance between them shall be twenty-five feet. At the rear of every building hereafter erected for or converted to the purposes of a tenement or lodging house on the back part of any lot, there shall be a clear open space of ten feet between it and any other building. But when thorough ventilation of such open spaces can be otherwise secured, said distances may be lessened or modified in special cases, by a permit from the inspector of buildings. SECT. 48. In every such house hereafter erected or converted, every Height of rooms. habitable room, except rooms in the attic, shall be in every part not less than eight feet in height from the floor to the ceiling; and every habitable room in the attic of any building shall be at least eight feet in height from the floor to the ceiling, throughout not less than onehalf the area of such room. Every such room shall have at least one Windows. window connecting with the external air, or over the door a suitable ventilator, connecting it with a room or hall which has a connection with the external air. The total area of window in every room communicating with the external air shall be equal to at least one-tenth of the superficial area of every such room; and the top of one at least of such windows shall not be less than seven feet and six inches above the floor, and the upper half of each window shall be so made as to open for the purposes of ventilation. Every habitable room of Ventilation for a less area than one hundred superficial feet if it does not communicate not communidirectly with the external air, and is without an open fireplace, shall cate with open be provided with special means of ventilation by a separate air-shaft extending to the roof, or otherwise as the inspector of buildings may prescribe. rooms that do air. every family. ashes, etc. to be cemented. SECT. 49. Every such house hereafter erected or converted, shall Fireplace for have adequate chimneys running through every floor, with an open fireplace or grate, or place for a stove, properly connected with one of said chimneys, for every family set of apartments. It shall have Receptacles for proper conveniences and receptacles for ashes and rubbish; it shall have water furnished at one or more places in such house, or in the yard thereof, so that the same may be adequate and reasonably convenient for the use of the occupants thereof. It shall have the floor Cellar-floor of the cellar properly cemented, so as to be water-tight. The halls on each floor shall open directly to the external air with suitable windows, and shall have no room or other obstruction at the end, unless sufficient light or ventilation is otherwise provided for said halls, in a manner approved by the inspector of buildings. [SECT. 50. The inspector of buildings, with the approval of the Inspector, with board of health, shall have authority to make other regulations as to board of health, cellars and as to ventilation, consistent with the foregoing, where he may make other shall be satisfied that such regulations will secure equally well the health of the occupants. All complaints of violations of sections forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, and forty-five, of this act shall be made only by authority of the board of health.] approval of regulations. DANGEROUS STRUCTURES. structures to ba [SECT. 51. If any building or parts of a building, staging, or other Dangerous structure, in the city of Boston, shall, from any cause, be reported inspected. dangerous or unsafe, and to endanger life and limb, it shall be the duty of the inspector of buildings to inspect such structure, and if, in his opinion, the same be dangerous, he shall cause a description of such dangerous structure, with street and number, to be entered in the books of the department for the survey and inspection of buildings. notified. [SECT. 52. The inspector of buildings shall immediately serve a Owners to be notice in writing upon the owner, agent, or other party having an interest in said structure, requiring the same to be made safe and secure, or removed, as may be necessary. If the person so served with notice shall certify his or their assent 1Repealed. St. 1872, c. 260, § 4, substituted. 2Sections fifty-one to fifty-eight, inclusive, repealed by St. 1873, c. 298, § 26. Proceedings in case building is not secured or removed. Building to be taken down or made safe. Proviso. Penalty for not taking down building. Parties ag to the securing or removing of the said unsafe or dangerous structure, The report of such survey shall be reduced to writing, and entered in the books of the department for the survey and inspection of buildings, and a copy served upon the owner or other interested party. [SECT. 53. Whenever the report of any such survey, had as aforesaid, shall cite the structure as unsafe or dangerous to life and limb, the inspector of buildings shall, upon the continued refusal or neglect of the owner or other interested party, cause such unsafe or dangerous structure to be taken down or otherwise made safe, and the cost and charges shall become a lien upon the said estate, to be collected according to law, but without prejudice to the right which the owner thereof may have to recover the same from any lessee, or other person liable for the expense of repairs: provided, that nothing herein shall authorize the recovery by the lessor of the lessee of the cost of any charges which have been rendered necessary through the default or negligence of the lessor, or through want of repair or defects existing in said premises at the commencement of the lease. [SECT. 54. Upon the citation of any structure as unsafe or dangerous by the inspector of buildings, if the owner or other interested party, being notified thereof in writing, shall refuse or neglect to cause the said structure to be taken down or otherwise made safe, said owner or other interested party shall be liable, for every day's continuance of said refusal or neglect, to the penalty of a sum not less than ten nor exceeding fifty dollars, said sums to be recoverable as debts are now by law recoverable. [SECT. 55. Any owner or other interested person aggrieved by any grieved may apply for a jury. Such order may, within three days after the service thereof upon him, apply for a jury, to the superior court, if sitting in the county, or to any justice thereof in vacation. The court or justice shall issue a warrant for a jury, to be impanelled by the sheriff within fourteen days from the date of the warrant, in the manner provided in chapter forty-three of the general statutes relating to highways. Jury to return verdict to next term of court. Costs. Penalty may be enforced if order by jury. [SECT. 56. The jury may affirm, annul, or alter, such order; and the sheriff shall return the verdict to the next term of the court for acceptance, and being accepted, it shall take effect as an original order. [SECT. 57. If the order is affirmed, costs shall be taxed against the applicant. If it is annulled, the applicant shall recover damages and costs against the city. If it is altered in part, the court may render such judgment as to costs, as justice may require. [SECT. 58. Nothing contained in the three preceding sections. is not annulled shall be construed to bar the right of the city to recover the penalty enacted in section fifty-four for the continuance of the refusal or neglect of the owner or other interested party to cause the structure in question to be taken down, or otherwise made safe, unless the said order shall be annulled by the jury; but in default of such annul ment, the city shall have the right to recover said penalty from the day of the original notice, as enacted in said section.] HOIST-WAYS. closed at night. [SECT. 59. The lessee or occupant of any warehouse, store, or Hoist-ways to be manufactory, or other building in which there are hoist-ways, or other openings besides the usual stair-ways, shall cause the same to be securely closed at the close of each day. And in case any such building is occupied, then the owner thereof shall cause any such openings to be kept securely closed.] PLACES OF AMUSEMENT. not to be ob ment. [SECT. 60. From and after the passage of this act it shall not be Passage-ways lawful for the owners or lessees of any public hall or place of amuse- structed in ment in the city of Boston to obstruct, or to allow to be obstructed places of amuse. by others, any of the aisles or passage-ways in the auditorium of said halls or places of amusement, by placing therein any benches, chairs, stools, or other articles that may prevent free egress, during the hours that said places may be open to the public. And the said owners, lessees, or their agents, are hereby required to keep open all doors giving access to such places of amusement, when used by the public, unless such doors open outwards, and except that fly-doors, opening both ways, may be kept closed. For any neglect or violation of the above provisions of this act, a Penalty. penalty of one hundred dollars shall be imposed upon the owner, lessee, or other occupant, of said places of amusement.] COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS. houses not to have combus tible materials stored therein. SECT. 61. No building situated or hereafter erected within the Dwelling. building limits of the city of Boston, occupied in part or in whole as a dwelling, shall have any hay, straw, hemp, flax, shavings, burningfluid, turpentine, camphene, or any inflammable oil, or any other combustible material, stored therein, or kept on sale, except in such quantities as shall be provided for by law or by a city ordinance. PENALTIES. SECT. 62. If any person or persons, whether owner or owners, Penalties. contractor or contractors, shall erect, construct, build, or alter, so as to make it substantially a new building, any dwelling-house or other building within the city of Boston, without first obtaining a permit from the office of the inspector of buildings, such person shall forfeit and pay the sum of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars for each and every offence; and if any person or persons as aforesaid shall proceed to complete any such building without having the same inspected as required, or shall fail to have the walls thereof built of the thickness required by this act, or otherwise fail to comply with its provisions, he or they so offending shall forfeit and pay the sum of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars for each and every offence, and the further sum of one hundred dollars for each and every calendar month that said house or building shall be suffered to remain without the necessary inspection and the procuring of the proper certificates. These sums shall be recoverable as debts are now by law recovered. If, upon inspection, it shall appear that the work upon any building is going on in violation of any of the provisions of this act, the 1 Repealed. St. 1872, c 260, § 5, substituted. 2 Repealed by St. 1876, c. 69, § 4. |