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A brief history

Rent Officers were created by the Rent Act 1965 to register Fair Rents for protected tenancies, and originally operated under the administration of a Proper Officer within the County Council / London Borough structure.

We took on additional Housing Benefit work following the introduction of Assured Shorthold Tenancies by the Housing Act 1988 and in 1999 we became a separate agency within various Government departments. We then merged with the VOA after the introduction of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) in 2008.

Today our data contributes to benefits which support over two million PRS households in England through Housing Benefit, LHA and Universal Credit (UC) (Source: Stat-Xplore, Dept for Work & Pensions).

Collecting Rental Data

VOA Rent officers collect rental data from a variety of sources to get a representative sample of the private rental market. This data is used for valuations, contributes to the production of Private Rental Market Statistics and to CPI(H). Find out more about lettings information.

Fair rents

If a tenancy started before 15 January 1989, this is likely to be a regulated or secure tenancy. A landlord or tenant of a regulated or secure tenancy can make an application to have a fair rent registered. Find out more about fair rents.

Housing Benefit

Rent Officers Provide valuations for housing benefit claims exempt from Universal Credit, inspecting when required. This includes supported accommodation, houseboats, moorings for houseboats, caravans, caravan sites and rooms with board

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are updated every April along with the housing element of Universal Credit. They are based on your rental data, subject to government policy.

You can find the current LHA rates onLHA-Directby searching by postcode or local authority area.

Benefit payments are made by your local authority.

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