Rent Registration Service (Hansard, 23 June 1994)

§ Mrs. Fyfe
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total amount of rents asked for by the landlords and the level of rents determined by the rent officers in the most recent year for which figures are available.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
I assume that the hon. Member is seeking information on the total sum of rents claimed by landlords and the total sum of rents determined by the rent registration service. In the case of rents determined for housing benefit subsidy, it was estimated on the basis of a 90 per cent. sample of cases recorded for 1993, that the total sum of rents referred to the rent registration service was around £145 million and the total sum of rents determined was around £131 million. Similar information relating to the determination of fair rents is not available.

§ Mrs. Fyfe
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to exclude cartels of private landlords from submitting tenders under market testing of the rent registration service.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
If market testing takes place, each bid will be considered on its merits to ensure that there is no conflict of interest. The Secretary of State would need to be satisfied that this had been addressed so that any risk of bias on the part of a potential contractor is eliminated. Otherwise the particular bid would be excluded from the tender evaluation process.

§ Mrs. Fyfe
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to safeguard(a) private sector tenants and (b) the public purse from rents being raised following a successful bid for running the rent registration service being accepted from an organisation other than the current service provided by civil servants.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
All the existing legislation which applies to the determination of rents by rent officers would continue to apply to any rent registration service providers that might be appointed. This290W would include provision for appeals to rent assessment committees on fair rents and the existing powers of the courts.