Rent officer changes

News

22 April 1989

The rent officer will also have to verify, by reference to the criteria laid down in the regulations, that the accommodation is not considered to be unreasonably large for the claimant’s needs. If the rent is above the market level, the rent officer will assess what a reasonable market rent for the property would be, taking into account the size of the property, and the housing benefit subsidy to the local authority will be paid only up to the level of the rent officer’s assessment.

The result of these changes, the Association of Metropolitan Authorities(*) comments, will make a mockery of the Government’s strategy of tackling homelessness by expanding the private rented sector. Tenants could be forced into homelessness because their rents are considered too high or their homes too large. “The Government’s policy towards the deregulation of the private rented sector is in a state of utter confusion. It has stated that it wants to see deregulation based upon market rents, but it has been unable to reassure the local authority associations or claimants that housing benefit will be available in full to allow those on low incomes to take advantage of any expansion that takes place. The Treasury, the Department of the Environment and the Department of Social Security are clearly not working towards the same objective. Furthermore, delays which have become all too frequent in recent years in implementing the regulations will create problems for local authorities which, in turn, will cause hardship for claimants. The size criteria to be applied constitute discriminatory treatment of tenants in the private rented sector.”

(*) AMA, 35 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BJ.

Rent officers will now have a new function under section 122 of the Housing Act 1988. Whereas previously their job was to register fair rents on tenancies that were protected under the 1977 Rent Act, their new task will be to establish that the rent being paid by a private tenant who claims housing benefit from a local authority is not above what the rent officer considers to be a market rent. The rent officer will also have to verify, by reference to the criteria laid down in the regulations, that the accommodation is not considered to be unreasonably large for the claimant’s needs. If the rent is above the market level, the rent officer will assess what a reasonable market rent for the property would be, taking into account the size of the property, and the housing benefit subsidy to the local authority will be paid only up to the level of the rent officer’s assessment. The result of these changes, the Association of Metropolitan Authorities(*) comments, will make a mockery of the Government’s strategy of tackling homelessness by expanding the private rented sector. Tenants could be forced into homelessness because their rents are considered too high or their homes too large. “The Government’s policy towards the deregulation of the private rented sector is in a state of utter confusion. It has stated that it wants to see deregulation based upon market rents, but it has been unable to reassure the local authority associations or claimants that housing benefit will be available in full to allow those on low incomes to take advantage of any expansion that takes place. The Treasury, the Department of the Environment and the Department of Social Security are clearly not working towards the same objective. Furthermore, delays which have become all too frequent in recent years in implementing the regulations will create problems for local authorities which, in turn, will cause hardship for claimants. The size criteria to be applied constitute discriminatory treatment of tenants in the private rented sector.” (*) AMA, 35 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BJ.