§ Mr. Loveridgeasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in the Official Report the criteria aplied by rent tribunals in determining fair rents.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergFair rents are not determined by rent tribunals but by
272Wlist in the Official Report the bodies to which he appoints members other than civil servants whose abolition has been announced since May; and if he will list in each case the cash savings that will result and the number of appointed members whose appointments will be terminated.
§ Mr. HeseltineI will save 783 appointments from those bodies whose abolition has been announced since May 1979 to which I appoint members other than civil servants. A full list of these bodies showing the number of appointments which will be abolished in each case is below.
The cash savings resulting from each of these abolitions is included in Sir Leo Pliatzky's "Report on Non-Departmental Public Bodies", which has been presented to Parliament and was published on 16 January. A copy is available in the Library of the House.
rent officers, or, on appeal, by rent assessment committees. The basis is in section 70 of the Rent Act 1977. Broadly, regard must be had to all the circumstances of the tenancy and in particular to the age, character, locality and state of repair of the dwelling house. It must be assumed that supply and demand for the 273W type of property in question are roughly in balance; that is, the assessment does not reflect the effects of market scarcity. The personal circumstances of both landlord and tenant, any improvement to the dwelling or furniture carried out by the tenant over and above his obligations under the tenancy and disrepair attributable to the tenant must be disregarded.