Explanatory note

This Order amends the Rent Officers (Additional Functions) Order 1990 (which conferred functions on rent officers in connection with housing benefit and rent allowance subsidy).

The earlier Order requires a rent officer in specified circumstances to make determinations and redeterminations relating to a tenancy or licence of a dwelling. Article 2(1) of this Order substitutes a new article 5(2) relating to assured tenancies and assured agricultural occupancies. It adds to the cases in which determinations and redeterminations cannot be made where applications have already been made to a rent assessment committee under section 14 or 22 of the Housing Act 1988. Now they also cannot be made if there has been a recent determination under section 14 or 22 in relation to a similar tenancy or occupancy or if a determination under section 22 is precluded by subsection (3)(b) of that section; and it no longer matters that the rent is different from the rent determined under section 14 or 22.

Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the earlier Order provides for cases where the rent officer must determine if rent is attributable to the provision of services. Article 2(2) of this Order amends the definition of “services” in paragraph 3(2) to exclude some services relating to fuel.

Article 2(3) of this Order amends paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 to the earlier Order to require the rent officer additionally to notify the local authority of the level of rent under an assured tenancy where article 5(2)(a)(iii) of that Order (inserted by this Order) applies.

Article 3 stops the amendments applying to a redetermination relating to a determination made before this Order comes into force.