§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have received complaints of distress being caused to private tenants by high rent increases agreed by rent officers and rent assessment committees; what guidance the Government have given; and what information is available to landlords and tenants concerning the criteria and calculations on which new rents are proposed.
§ Lord BellwinThe Government receive representations about the levels of fair rents from both landlords and tenants. Rent officers and rent assessment committees are statutorily independent and no specific guidance is issued to them about the level of rents they should set. They have a duty to reach their own decision using criteria set out in Section 70 of the Rent Act 1977. The Department of the Environment and the Welsh Office publish a number of explanatory booklets in the Housing Booklets series, includingRegulated Tenancies, which describes the rent registration system in detail. These are available free of charge from the departments and rent officers. The departments also make their Statistical Notes for Rent Officers available to the public on payment of a small fee to cover copying charges.