Explanatory note

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

The main amendment is in article 2(b)(i) of the Order and requires rent officers, if applied to by a local authority, to make determinations and redeterminations about whether the rent payable under a tenancy or licence of a dwelling is exceptionally high. Exceptions to the requirement are described in the substitution made by article 2(a) for paragraph (3) of article 5 in the 1990 Order (which dealt with council tax). The Order also makes consequential amendments and a transitional provision and removes a spent provision in the Rent Officers (Additional Functions) (Scotland) Amendment Order 1993.