HC Deb 09 July 1980 vol 988 cc226-9W
Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people were living in (a) furnished and (b) unfurnished private rented accommodation at the latest convenient date; and how many of these in each case were in receipt of (i) rent allowances and (ii) supplementary benefit help with rent.

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

Information for tenants living in privately rented accommodation in England is as follows:

'000 households
Furnished Unfurnished
Total households*—End 1977 590 1,830
Receiving rent allowance—October 1977 9 195
Receiving supplementary benefit—August 1977 482

*Source: National dwelling and housing survey.

Estimates are subject to sampling error.

Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the average fixed annual rent for (a) furnished and (b) unfurnished privately rented accommodation in each county of England and Wales at the latest convenient date.

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

Average fair rents registered by rent officers during 1979 are available for counties and metropolitan districts and are given in the following table:

£ per annum
Unfurnished Furnished
ENGLAND
NORTHERN REGION
Counties
Cleveland 386 614
Cumbria 355 646
Durham 327 663
Northumberland 348 748
Metropolitan Districts
Gateshead 318 746
Newcastle upon Tyne 347 780
North Tyneside 330 574
South Tyneside 276 911
Sunderland 342 694
YORKSHIRE/ HUMBERSIDE
Counties
Humberside 389 605
North Yorkshire 456 647
Metropolitan Districts
Barnsley 312 753
Doncaster 319 488
Rotherham 345 605
Sheffield 349 668
Bradford 431 552
Calderdale 323 462
Kirklees 303 610
Leeds 370 642
Wakefield 321 664
EAST MIDLANDS
Counties
Derbyshire 392 589
Leicestershire 392 528
Lincolnshire 421 529
Northamptonshire 445 540
Nottinghamshire 411 624
£ per annum
Unfurnished Furnished
EAST ANGLIA
Counties
Cambridgeshire 513 998
Norfolk 509 851
Suffolk 483 767
SOUTH EAST
Greater London 668 929
Counties
Bedfordshire 467 718
Berkshire 452 839
Buckinghamshire 560 973
Essex 512 682
Hampshire 429 706
Hertfordshire 485 728
Isle of Wight 450 659
Kent 557 694
Oxfordshire 549 949
Surrey 551 987
East Sussex 555 687
West Sussex 530 568
SOUTH WEST
Counties
Avon 551 787
Cornwall 479 701
Devon 524 750
Dorset 548 697
Gloucestershire 471 564
Somerset 532 725
Wiltshire 487 722
WEST MIDLANDS
Counties
Hereford and Worcester 513 668
Salop 492 604
Staffordshire 416 620
Warwickshire 437 658
Metropolitan Districts
Birmingham 453 577
Coventry 450 545
Dudley 459 422
Sandwell 427 426
Solihull 525 1,488
Walsall 399 543
Wolverhampton 463 554
NORTH WEST
Counties
Cheshire 366 552
Lancashire 431 561
Metropolitan Districts
Bolton 352 500
Bury 378 380
Manchester 328 682
Oldham 287 482
Rochdale 271 304
Salford 308 546
Stockport 363 629
Tameside 313 655
Trafford 388 526
Wigan 306 615
Knowsley 382 876
Liverpool 312 501
St. Helens 348
Sefton 384 585
Wirral 376 484
£ per annum
Unfurnished Furnished
WALES
Clwyd 421 496
Dyfed 409 704
Gwent 409 492
Gwynedd 400
Mid Glamorgan 377 642
Powys 390
South Glamorgan 405 613
West Glamorgan 360 561

Notes on tables:

1. Rents include some service costs. These rents are not fully payable immediately; increases are phased in three annual instalments. The statistics are for rent officer registrations only (including re-registrations) and do not take account of any changes made by rent assessment committees on appeal.

2. The figures exclude both housing association tenancies and also initial registration following decontrol.

3. Rents determined by rent tribunals are not included.

Forward to