What is Housing Benefit?
Housing Benefit is financial assistance towards the rent a tenant is contracted to pay to a landlord. It is means tested and may not cover the whole rent. There are certain items of household expenditure that may or may not be covered by housing benefit. If you wish information on this topic you should contact your local council.
Who pays out Housing Benefit?
It is the council for the relevant area that pays housing benefit. The Rent Officer does not calculate the amount of benefit paid out to the tenant. The Rent Officer calculates the amount of subsidy that can be claimed by the council from central government.
The council can take account of personal circumstances, the Rent Officer cannot!
What is the Rent Officer's Role?
The Rent Officer's sole function with regard to housing benefit is to calculate the amount of subsidy that the council can claim from the central government.
In accordance with the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 the Rent Officer will take account of such factors as the number of rooms in the dwelling, the number of people living in the house as well as their age and sex. The Rent Officer will also consider the condition of the dwelling along with the amenity, vicinity and neighbourhood of the local area. Other items such as services, furnishings and board will also fall to be considered.
One of the main items affecting the amount of subsidy received by the council is the marketplace. The Rent Officer is duty bound to have regard to what a tenant is able to pay from their own resources and a landlord is willing to receive. This is determined using market evidence supplied by landlords, tenants, and estate agencies, letting agencies and solicitors' offices.
Size Criteria
Housing benefit is designed to give financial help for the property required for your household. Personal circumstances may be considered by the Council but the Rent Officer does not have this discretion. The following sets out the various size criteria.
1 One bedroom shall be allowed for each of the following categories of occupiers (and each occupier shall come within only the first category for which he is eligible).
A) A married couple or an unmarried couple (within the meaning of Part II of the Social Security Act 1986),
B) an adult
C) two children of the same sex
D) two children who are less than ten years old
E) a child
2 The number of rooms (excluding any allowed as a bedroom under paragraph 1) suitable for living in are,
A) if there are fewer than four occupiers, one,
B) if there are more than three and fewer than seven occupiers, two
C) in any other case, three.
Personal Circumstances
The taking into account of personal circumstances is the prerogative of the Benefits Section of the relevant council. The closest a Rent Officer comes to considering personal circumstances is the question of size criteria (see above).
Such matters as medical reasons, certain custodial questions and other personal circumstances not related to housing benefit, will lie within the province of the relevant council.
Single Room Rent
For tenants who are under 25, without a partner or children living with them, the rent officer will also decide how much is generally paid in the 'neighbourhood' for a single room with a shared living room, kitchen and bathroom, and with any food or fuel bills deducted. This is the single room rent and will apply if it is below the claim- related rent (CRR) or local reference rent (LRR). The rent officers' decisions are usually valid for 12 months, however, the single room rent will last for 12 months or until your 25th birthday, whichever comes first.
What is an HMO (House of Multiple Occupancy)
What is Scottish Secure Tenancy?
Fair Rent
Who can apply to have a fair rent registered?
Landlords or tenants can apply to the rent officer for a rent to be registered. They can apply jointly or on their own.
The following types of tenants have the right to have a fair rent registered by a rent officer:
- Regulated tenants - generally speaking, this is a tenancy that started before January 2, 1989.
- Tenants who were secure tenants of a housing association whose tenancy was converted to a Scottish secure tenancy in September 2002. To have been a secure tenant with a housing association the tenancy must have started before 1989.
Landlords can also apply to a rent officer to have a fair rent set.
Most private tenants are assured or short assured tenants. Landlords of these tenancies charge 'market rents' - that is, the amount of money that tenants in those areas are prepared to pay.
When can an application be made?
An application to have a fair rent registered can be made at any time during the tenancy, provided that a fair rent had not already been registered. If a rent has been registered before, normally three years must pass before a new application can be made.
How to apply
In order to have a rent registered an RR1 form must be filled in. This can be obtained from the nearest Rent Registration office - in Dundee, Edinburgh or Glasgow - or downloaded.
This requires information including how much the applicant wants the rent to be, what the accommodation is like, information about the tenancy agreement etc.
This information will be considered by a rent officer who will then set a fair rent.
What happens when someone has applied for a rent to be registered?
The landlord and tenant will each be asked if they want to meet the Rent Officer to discuss what rent he shoudl register. The Rent Officer will not arrange a discussion if landlord and tenant apply jointly and he agrees with the rent proposed in the application. If either tenant or landlord asks for a discussion, or if the Rent Officer his or herself thinks there should be one, he will invite both landlord and tenant to attend.
Before the consultation the Rent Officer will usually want to inspect the premises, unless s/he has done so within the last six years and no significant change to the condition of the house has been brough to his / her notice. If a consultation is to be held, the Rent Officer must give at least 14 days notice in order to give the tenant an opportunity to study any informatio supplied by the landlord, and to make further enquiries about it.
How is a fair rent set?
In deciding what would be a fair rent, the Rent Officer has to take account of the circumstances of the case (but not the personal circumstances of the landlord or tenant) and must apply his knowledge and experience of rents of comparable property in the area.
Consideration will be given to:
- The age, character, locality of the property
- The quantity, quality and condition of any furniture provided
- Any service charges that are included
- Any disrepair
- Other factors such as lighting and heating, local amenities, traffic etc
The rent officer will usually look at fair rents which have already been registered for similar properties. This information is contained in the rent register held in local rent offices. It can also be obtained online.
- e-Register - for details of all registrations of fair rents carried out by the Rent Registration Service since November 1994 on individual properties.
How long does a registered rent remain in force?
It remains in force until a new rent is registered or until the tenant leaves and a new non-regulated tenancy agreement is entered into.
Will the registered rent include amounts for the use of furniture or for service provided by the landlord?
Yes. The applicant should tell the Rent Officer of all services provided and say how much of the rent being asked for is fairly attributable to those services. If the applicant is the landlord he should give details of what he has spent in providing these services. When the Rent Officer asks the tenant if he wants a consultation he will enclose a copy of the information about services provided by the landlord.
What if the tenant or landlord is unhappy with the rent set?
There is normally a right to object formally to the Rent Officer's rent. But there is no right of objection if:
- There is a joint application and the Rent Officer accepts and registers the rent applied for; or
- The landlord has obtained a certificate of fair rent and the rent registered is the same as the certificate.
An objection should be made in writing to the Rent Officer. Objections are normally referred to a Private Rented Housing Panel.
How long will a registered rent remain force?
It remains in force until a new rent is registered or until the tenant leaves and a new non-regulated tenancy agreement is entered into.
When can a new registration be made?
Once a fair rent has been registered, it cannot generally be reconsidered for a period of three years, unless either:
- the application is made jointly by landlord and tenant; or
- there has been a relevant change of circumstances (for example, major repairs, change in the terms of the tenancy); or
- the application is made by the landlord two years and nine months after the date of the existing registration. But if a new rent is registered before the end of the three year period, the new rent cannot take effect until the end of that period