HC Deb 11 July 1972 vol 840 cc310-1W

Thank you for your letter of 19th June asking whether an indication could be given that a direction is likely to be issued in due course under what is now Clause 62(4) of the Housing Finance Bill in respect of the increase towards fair rents in October, 1972 which your authority would be required to make under Part VI of the Bill.

We understand from a telephone conversation with you that the Council's own Valuation Department assessed the fair rents and took into account the registered rents of comparable private properties in the area. In addition, estimates of the likely fair rent for certain sample dwellings were obtained by the Council from the Rent Officer.

While we would not necessarily agree with all the estimates in your letter, it does appear to us, having considered the information provided by the Council that, if no direction were given under Clause 62(4), it is likely that the increase towards fair rents of£1 per week for each qualifying dwelling which your Council would be required to make in the year 1972–73 would result in the rents of more than 2 per cent. of those dwellings being substantially above their fair rents. Thus it seems that, to avoid the likelihood of such a result, the amount of that increase towards fair rents (which is an average amount) should be less than £1 per week, so as to enable your Council to distribute or apportion the increase as may be necessary within the maximum of £1 per week for any individual dwelling permitted by the Bill.

Accordingly, I am writing to inform you that the Secretary of State would be willing, when the Bill is in force, to give a direction under Clause 62(4) that your Council's increase towards fair rents in the year 1972–73 should be 75p per week. That direction will not affect the fair rents to be determined for your Council's Housing Revenue Account dwellings. The determination of fair rents is not a matter for the Secretary of State but is the responsibility of the housing authority and the rent scrutiny board in accordance with Part V of the Bill. Nor will the direction relate to the amount of any increase towards fair rents for the Council's qualifying dwellings in 1973–74, or subsequent years.