If it appears to a local authority that a house which, or a part of which, is let in lodgings, or which is occupied by members of more than one family, is not provided with such means of escape from fire as the local authority consider necessary, the local authority may, subject to this section, serve on any person on whom a notice may be served under section fifteen of this Act a notice specifying the works which in the opinion of the local authority are required to provide such means of escape, and requiring the person on whom the notice is served to execute those works.
A local authority who are not, under the Fire Services Act, 1947, the fire authority for the area in which the house is situated, or who have, under section twelve of that Act, delegated all their functions in respect of that area to another fire authority, shall, before serving a notice under this section, consult with the fire authority concerned, and, in the administrative county of London, shall not serve such a notice except with the consent of the London County Council.
Subsections (3) and (4) of section fifteen of this Act shall apply to a notice under this section as they apply to a notice under that section.