Explanatory note

This Order amends the Rent Officers (Additional Functions) (Scotland) Order 1995 (“the principal Order”) which will come into force on 2nd January 1996 and which will confer functions on rent officers, in connection with housing benefit and rent allowance subsidy, requiring them to make determinations and redeterminations in respect of tenancies of dwellings.

Article 2(a) and (b) alters the criteria for local reference rent determinations under paragraph 4(2)(b) of Schedule 1 to the principal Order (which applies where the tenant does not have use of more than one bedroom or room suitable for living in). In particular, rooms shared with a person other than a member of the tenant’s household, a non-dependant or a person who pays rent to the tenant are not to be taken into account when deciding if the tenant has the use of more than one room.

Article 2(c) changes the requirement in paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 to the principal Order not to take into account, when making determinations, rents under tenancies where the landlord is a charity. It restricts it to tenancies of dwellings provided in pursuit of charitable purposes.

Article 2(d) alters the criteria for indicative rent level determinations under paragraph 9 of Schedule 1 to the principal Order. In particular, for the categories listed in paragraph 9(3)(a) to (c) it amends the definition of room to exclude a room which the tenant shares with the persons mentioned in the amended definition.