§ Mr. George Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total cost of the machinery for the fixing of rents by rent officers, rent assessment committees and rent tribunals in the latest convenient year; and what was the cost per dwelling covered.
147W
§ Mr. ArmstrongIn England in 1976 the total cost of the rent officer service, rent assessment and rent tribunals was £10.5 million.
The rent officer service dealt with about 326,000 dwellings at a cost of £8.6 million. The average cost per dwelling was £26.
The combined cost of rent assessment committees and rent tribunals was £1.9 million. I regret that as expenditure on these two services can only be separated at disproportionate expense an average cost per dwelling for the rent assessment committee and the rent tribunal cases is not available. It should be noted that rent assessment committees deal with objections in respect of dwellings for which rent officers have already fixed rents.