A new rent system 1965 to 1971 The
Labour Government elected in 1964 had pledged to repeal the
Rent Act 1957. It was clearly impossible to re-impose rent control in a simple way. A Committee on Housing in Greater London under the chairmanship of
Sir Milner Holland, QC, reported in March 1965. They found that there was "an acute shortage of rented housing in London and many difficulties and hardships arising from it". This was not a situation peculiar to London. They observed that neither rigid control nor piecemeal and haphazard decontrol could relieve the situation and that any new system of control (or regulation) should provide that rents in future should be subject to periodic review. In this situation and in these circumstances came a new piece of legislation that was a major turning point.
Richard Crossman, Lord Goodman, who became President of the Institute of Rent Officers and others claimed paternity rights. The
Rent Act 1965 (c. 75) introduced the Rent Officer Service. The
Ministry of Housing and Local Government, which later became part of the
Department of the Environment, and then
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, was responsible for setting up the administrative arrangements and the appointment of the first Rent Officers, in England and Wales. Appointments were made by the "proper officer" a designated official in each local authority (usually the chief executive or senior
legal executive of the county council or of each
London borough who was responsible for providing accommodation, for supervision and disciplinary matters. The service was funded from central government by grant claims. In practice these matters were delegated to a Senior Rent Officer in each of the seventy-seven original registration area offices. Decisions made by individual rent officers were considered as to be made independently. The system was devised so that Rent Officer's decisions could not be influenced by local or central government. Administrative staff were appointed who were employed by the local authority. The first rent officer appointments were made in the
City of Westminster where rent officers appointed in other registration areas were trained. Early appointments were made from the legal profession, from the Inland Revenue valuation office, former estate agents, property managers, and retired ex-military and retired ex-policemen. The first rent registration was made on a flat above a fishmongers shop in Paddington Street,
Marylebone, London W1. The Institute of Rent Officers (IRO) was formed to promote a professional approach and to carry out education and training. The Journal of the Institute of Rent Officers JIRO was published quarterly to encourage discussion of procedures, valuation practice and to provide information about new legislation and "case law" arising from legal decisions in the Courts relating to landlord and tenant matters. The Educational Trust of the Institute of Rent Officers published guides and a brown-coloured Manual of Rent Regulation which provided practitioners with annotated amendments as complete reprinted pages to residential landlord and tenant legislation in loose-leaf form. This important and prompt updating service incorporated the many amendments noted in this guide. The brown manual could often be seen on the bench of high court judges and in the hands of solicitors and barristers representing landlords and tenants in the courts.
Scope of regulation The '''''' (c. 75) brought within protection most houses that were decontrolled by the Rent Act 1957, and newer houses that had never been controlled (i.e., newly erected or produced by conversion after 30 August 1954). It gave security to tenancies of most dwelling houses with rateable values of up to £400 in Greater London and £200 elsewhere not already controlled. The Rent Act 1965 cleverly began by stating that a tenancy under which a dwelling house (which could be a house or part of a house) was let as a separate dwelling was a protected tenancy. There were certain exceptions (which were modified and added to in subsequent legislation). References are those in Part I of the later consolidated
Rent Act 1977: • Section 4 Dwelling-houses above certain rateable values • Section 5 Tenancies at low rents • Section 5A Certain shared ownership leases • Section 6 Dwelling-houses let with land other than the site of the house • Section 7 Dwelling-houses bona-fide let at a rent that includes board (a meal or meals)and/or attendance (services personal to the tenant) where the value to the tenant forms a substantial part of the rent • Section 8 Lettings to students pursuing a course of studies • Section 9 Where a dwelling-house was let for the purpose of a holiday • Section 10 Agricultural tenancies • Section 11 Licensed premises • Section 12 Where the landlord was resident in the same house • Section 13 Where the interest of the landlord belonged to Her Majesty in the right of the Crown • Section 14 Local authority tenancies • Section 15 Housing association tenancies • Section 16 Housing co-operative tenancies • Section 22 Tenants sharing accommodation with persons other than the landlord • Section 24 Premises with a business use The Rent Act 1965 introduced three major innovations. Firstly, except for furnished lettings, it was the first time that a new long-term flexible approach had been brought to the old problem of rent control. It substituted the rent-fixing formula of earlier legislation with independent rent regulation by rent officers. This introduced the normal valuation principles into the assessment of a fair rent (section 68 in the Rent Act 1965 and section 70 in the consolidated
Rent Act 1977) by requiring that regard should specifically be had to the age, character, locality and state of repair of the dwelling. Personal circumstances were to be disregarded as were improvements carried out voluntarily by, and any disrepair or defects attributable to, the tenant or a predecessor in title. A most fundamental concept was introduced whereby it had to be assumed that the number of persons seeking to become tenants of similar dwelling houses in the locality on the terms (other than those relating to rent) of the regulated tenancy was not substantially greater than the number of such dwelling-houses in the locality that were available for letting on such terms. This requirement to assume a roughly balanced market was described by commentators as the "scarcity factor", (words that did not appear in the act). There was an automatic rent review (but only if applied for) at three-yearly intervals (reduced to two-yearly intervals in the
Housing Act 1980). Secondly, it instituted rent registration, schemes for the appointment of rent officers and a nationwide Rent Officer Service. Rent officers were required, in accordance with specified procedures, upon application to determine and register fair rents. Objections to the rents determined by rent officers by either landlords or tenants were to be passed to a network of
rent assessment committees with appellate jurisdiction. Rent officers appointed as "statutory officers" therefore had a quasi-judicial function. As a tribunal of first instance they had the same duty as the former furnished rent tribunals to determine their own jurisdiction to act upon an application. Appeals against such decisions as to jurisdiction were to be considered by a county court. Thirdly, the act made it an offence for any person unlawfully (i.e. without a court order) to evict a tenant or to harass with the intention of persuading the tenant to move out or to forego any rights in respect of the premises. The offences applied irrespective of the dwelling's rateable value and service occupiers and other licensees whose licence was still in existence were also protected. The percentage increase of the net cost to be added to the rent for improvements carried out after 8 December 1965 and after the rent had been agreed, was twelve and one half per cent. The right of succession to a statutory tenancy was extended to enable the tenancy to be transmitted to a second successor on the same rules applicable to the transmission on the death of the original tenant or of the first successor. The Rent Act 1965 also raised to £400 in Greater London and £200 elsewhere the rateable value limits of furnished houses within the jurisdiction of
rent tribunals and extended the maximum period by which they could delay the operation of a notice to quit to six months. The presidents of rent assessment panels in England and Wales were empowered to make appointments to Rent Tribunals in their areas. The Rent Act 1965 provided for the conversion of statutory tenancies subsisting under the provisions of the
Requisitioned Houses and Housing (Amendment) Act 1955 by extending its time limit for this purpose. This finally tidied up one of the remaining consequences of the wartime emergency. The
Airports Authority Act 1965 added the net cost of soundproofing works to the list of improvements that could increase rents. The
Agriculture Act 1967 (c. 22) contained provisions relating to the letting and recovery of farm houses that became redundant following the amalgamation of farms under that act. The
Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (c. 88) brought back into the acts long tenancies (a tenancy granted for a term of years certain exceeding twenty-one years) (other than those at a low rent), but unintentionally applied to them the Rent Act inhibitions upon premiums. The
Caravan Sites Act 1968 (c. 52) made it unlawful, without the sanction of the courts, to deprive a person who occupied a
caravan as a residence, whether owned or rented, on a caravan pitch that was protected (one that required a site licence under the
Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960). The Caravan Sites Act 1968 gave courts the power to suspend possession orders up to twelve months and protected caravan occupiers against harassment. Local authorities had power to prosecute. Harassment and illegal eviction was punishable by a fine of £100 for the first offence and £500 and six months imprisonment (or both) for a second offence. With the exception of section 16 of the Rent Act 1957 (notices to quit) and part III of the Rent Act 1965 (illegal eviction and harassment), the
Rent Act 1968 consolidated all the earlier Rent Acts; the
Furnished Houses (Rent Control) Act 1946, the
Landlord and Tenant (Rent Control) Act 1949, part II of the
Housing Repairs and Rents Act 1954 and other related enactments (some twenty-four in all), without rationalising or simplifying them. The Rent Act 1965 had previously provided the power by
ministerial order for the progressive conversion of existing controlled tenancies to regulated tenancies. This power was never exercised and the
Housing Act 1969 introduced a phased programme of conversion, determined by rateable values, and the qualification certificate procedure outlined below, for those controlled tenancies in good repair and equipped with standard amenities. Grants became available to provide dwellings by conversion or for improvements of existing dwellings and there were special grants for houses in multiple occupation. Grants to provide standard amenities were specified (e.g. £30 for a bath or shower; £50 for a water closet and £30 for a hot and cold water supply at a sink) The term "improvements" included the replacement of an existing fixture or fitting. Qualification certificates could be issued by a local authority for premises that had all the standard amenities and were in good repair. A certificate of fair rent issued by the Rent Officer stated what the fair rent would be once any missing standard amenities had been provided. A fair rent could then be determined (the application was supported by the certificate of fair rent) but the increase in rent was phased over a period of four years (two years if the work had been aided by an improvement grant). Amount attributable to services Rent Officers had previously informally shown an amount for the value of services on the register. The 1969 act required there to be a note on the rent register of the amount attributable to the provision of services (but not if the charge for the services was variable). A note was now also required of the increase over the amount for services in the previous rent (which could be calculated by apportionment if necessary). This amount affected the phasing calculation. The act introduced a new definition of a
house in multiple occupation (HMO) and provided for registers and orders applying a management code. Powers were given to local authorities to close an HMO (or part of it) if it was not possible to provide a fire escape. It introduced the possibility of control orders to be followed by compulsory purchase orders. Directions were made to avoid or reduce overcrowding. In determining whether a long tenancy was a tenancy at a low rent, the sums payable by the tenant in respect of rates, services, repairs, maintenance or insurance now had to be disregarded. The act removed most of the unintended consequences of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 in respect of premiums and the price to be paid for enfranchisement. Increased rents registered between 10 July 1968 and 31 December 1969 were liable to phasing under the
Prices and Incomes Regulations 1968 (which only applied until the end of 1969). When those regulations expired, the
Rent (Control of Increases) Act 1969 (which only applied to the end of 1971) introduced phasing of rent increases generally speaking over three equal annual increments. Improvements to the security of tenure available to occupants of agricultural
tied cottages were made by the
Agriculture Act 1970 (c. 40). It amended section 33 of the Rent Act 1965 to ensure that, subject to conditions, the tenant of a tied cottage, or his widow, would automatically get at least six months' security of tenure alter the employment ended. This act extended the provisions of the
Agriculture Act 1967 (c. 22) to all redundant farm houses and not only just those redundant due to amalgamation of farms under the 1967 act. The
Fire Precautions Act 1971 (c. 40) made amendments to the
Rent Act 1968 and arrangements to amend the
Rent (Scotland) Act 1971. Where a dwelling was subject to a controlled or a regulated tenancy and the dwelling was issued with a fire certificate, the amount of the expenditure (or a proportion of it approved by a county court) incurred in fire precautions work was to be considered as an improvement in an application for a certificate of fair rent. A county court could, upon application, determine an increase in the rent of controlled or regulated tenancies due to the cost of carrying out fire precaution works.
Adjustments in 1971 to 1977 A review under the chairmanship of Hugh Francis QC was commissioned in October 1969 to review the operation of rent regulation under the Rent Acts, especially in large centres of population where accommodation was scarce, and to consider the relationship between the furnished and unfurnished codes. Its conclusion, published on 2 March 1971, was that rent regulation was working well. The report made 36 recommendations, four of which were enacted in the
Housing Finance Act 1972, an act that in its time had a minor claim to fame—57 committee sittings taking an exceptional 248 hours of debate in the
House of Commons. The 1972 act introduced many new concepts: • Rent rebates were to be provided for all local authority tenants. Each local authority had to introduce a model scheme. Rent allowances were to be provided for private tenants whether protected or statutory. These were to be administered by the local housing authority and details of the availability of these allowances had to be entered in rent books. Previously, rent rebates had been introduced on a discretionary basis (in Scotland by the
Housing (Scotland) Act 1966), which had led to haphazard, piecemeal and inconsistent implementation. • There was also a requirement for more general publicity. Private landlords had to tell existing and new tenants about the availability of rent allowances. • Remaining controlled tenancies could be converted by stages. The conversion machinery introduced by the
Housing Act 1969 had enabled controlled tenancies to be converted unto regulated tenancies where the property was in, or was improved into, the required standard. The process was speeded up by the 1972 act, which provided for automatic conversion of all remaining controlled tenancies, whether or not they met the 1969 act criteria, by stages (intended to be completed in two years) according to the property's rateable value. The earlier qualification certificate procedure was not being implemented as intended. Some over zealous local authorities had been misinterpreting what constituted "good repair" and it would have taken several years to complete the intended progress. • Local authorities were given powers to apply to the Rent Officer to consider whether a rent should be registered in respect of any regulated tenancy. The Rent Officer had to be satisfied that the highest rent payable under the tenancy agreement exceeded a fair rent before he could proceed to register a rent. • Landlords and tenants were given the right (subject to certain conditions) to apply, jointly, for cancellation of a registered rent. Such an application could only be entertained by a Rent Officer after the expiry of the (then) three-year registration period. The cancellation was only to be permitted of the Rent Officer considered that the agreed rent did not exceed a fair rent. • It introduced the right to apply three months before the expiry of a previously controlled tenancy for consideration of a fair rent. This enabled the standard administrative procedures to be completed in time so that the Rent Officer's decision could be expected to coincide with the expiry of the previous registration. • It unfroze the contractual rent limit, which had previously been fixed until the registration of a fair rent (some of which could have been set in 1965). • Provision was made for landlords and tenants of regulated tenancies for which no fair rent had been registered, to agree (using a special written agreement) rent increases without reference to the Rent Officer and without losing their rights to make some future application for a fair rent to be determined. But if the rent agreement was the first to take effect after the controlled tenancy had been converted into a regulated tenancy by the 1972 act, the agreement had to be lodged with the Rent Officer who would only allow the agreement to have effect if the agreed rent did not exceed a fair rent. • Changes were made to statutory succession. Until this act, a new tenancy granted to a first or second statutory success or had created new succession rights. From 27 August 1972, a new tenancy granted by succession to a person who was a statutory tenant by succession did not create any new succession rights. Another of the recommendations of the Francis Committee, to increase the maximum penalties for harassment and unlawful eviction, was included in the
Criminal Justice Act 1972. The Housing Finance Act 1972 also brought fundamental changes to rent legislation. It became the duty of every local authority and new town corporation to determine a fair rent (on the same basis and definition as a fair rent for regulated tenancies) for every one of their housing revenue account dwellings. This was to be done by making provisional assessments of fair rents for their properties. These assessments had to be submitted to a rent scrutiny board that could confirm them or substitute different rents. These provisions were repealed in 1976. Dwellings owned by
housing associations and
housing trusts (usually charities), which were registered with the Housing Corporation (but not those that were registered societies under the
Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965) were brought within the fair rent system. From 1 January 1973, their rents were to be determined by Rent Officers and registered in a separate part of the Rent Register. New subsidies were introduced for housing associations and housing trusts registered with the Housing Corporation. For the first time, tenants were entitled to information about the cost of services provided by landlords when the cost exceeded £80. Local authorities, other public sector landlords (including housing associations) and management companies run by their tenants were excepted. A failure to provide information became a criminal offence. The
Rent Assessment Committee (England and Wales) Regulations 1971 was the first of many statutory instruments that regulated procedures to follow when dealing with appeals against rent officer decisions.
Rents frozen 1972 Orders made under the
Counter Inflation (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972 froze rents at their level on 6 November 1972 (as well as prices and wages) as part of the government's counter inflation measures. The freeze lasted initially for 90 days and was extended to 150 days by a later Order. Conversions from controlled to regulated tenancies (and in general, increases in rents of housing association tenancies) were postponed until the end of the standstill period. The freeze applied to all private residential tenancies including those with rateable values above the Rent Act limits. The
Counter-Inflation Act 1973 imposed a further freeze from March 1974 (until March 1975 in England and Wales) (until May 1975 in Scotland). The
Furnished Lettings (Rent Allowances) Act 1973 extended the rent allowance scheme to furnished lettings (those contracts within Part VI of the Rent Act 1968) and for certain housing authority furnished lettings, except where the landlord was the Crown or where substantial board was provided.
Rateable value limits 1973 Owing to the increased pressure of demand for housing resulting in increased house prices by a continuing trend during 1971 and 1972, a Conservative government used the
Counter-Inflation Act 1973 to extend the scope of Rent Act protection of higher-rated accommodation on 23 March 1973. The rateable value limits were raised from £400 to £600 in London and from £200 to £400 elsewhere for those properties appearing in the 1963 valuation list. Those limits were raised to £1,500 in London and to £750 elsewhere from 1 April 1973 to take account of the revised valuation list that took effect on that date. It was estimated that this brought a further 16,000 tenancies into protection. Luxury blocks of flats with extensive porterage and services were swept into control and even in Central London only a few very large individual houses in
Regent's Park were found to be outside the scope of Rent Act protection. The rateable value limits for Rent Act protection were not changed for Scotland.
Assimilation of furnished tenancies 1974 Three important acts were passed in the next two years. The
Rent Act 1974 brought full protection to those existing furnished lettings where the landlord was not resident in the same premises. Previously they had had only limited protection under the 1943, 1946 and 1949 acts. The concept of "resident landlord" was entirely new. For all new tenancies created on or after 14 August 1974, whether furnished or unfurnished, the factor to decide their protection was to be the residency or non-residency of the landlord. The
Housing Act 1974 gave many private tenants the right to additional information as to the identity of their landlord, and there was also a new duty to inform a tenant of a dwelling of the assignment of a landlord's interest. It extended the right to information about service charges and introduced the right to challenge them. The form and content of certain notices to quit was to be prescribed by regulations to be made by the
Secretary of State and the improvement grant system was re-vamped. Housing action areas, general improvement areas and priority neighbourhoods were introduced. Grants for the provision of standard amenities, improvements (which were compulsory in some cases) and for the repair of dwellings were introduced. The act also extended the powers of the Housing Corporation with regard to housing associations and amended the system of providing financial assistance to them.
Phasing 1975 The '''''' repealed the provisions of the
Housing Finance Act 1972 in relation to public sector dwellings and by and large gave local authorities a free hand in determining their rent policies. The gradual decontrol process based on rateable values was stopped, and a system of phased rent increases was introduced for all tenancies. Apart from the temporary provisions in the counter-inflation legislation in 1972 and 1973, mentioned earlier, there had been previously no phasing of increases of rent following re-registration of a fair rent. These phasing arrangements required a careful scrutiny of the cost of providing services and assessment of the value of services. The
Social Security (Consequential Provisions) Act 1992 required the amount attributable to services to be noted on the Rent Register to assist the assessment of
housing benefit. New amenities or improvements to a locality that were not provided at the landlords expense were to be disregarded in determination of a fair rent—and by a very late amendment, any deterioration in a locality that was not the fault of the landlord were to be disregarded. Semantics came into the valuation process. Fortunately these disregards were subsequently repealed.
Agricultural workers protected 1976 Some agricultural workers, forestry workers and members of their families had enjoyed security of occupation under the Rent Acts. The
Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976 conferred on occupiers of "tied cottages" protection similar to that enjoyed by Rent Act statutory tenants. Rents became eligible for registration under the fair rent system and such decisions kept in a separate part of the Rent Register.
The great consolidation 1977 In 1977 previous legislation (except the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976 was consolidated into the
Rent Act 1977 (which embodied the "temporary" counter inflation device of phasing) and the
Protection from Eviction Act 1977 (which contained special provisions in respect of agricultural workers) consolidated the provisions of previous Rent Acts (chiefly the acts of 1957 and 1965), which protected all residential occupiers from eviction without due process of law.
Definitions "Sitting tenant" is not used in the legislation but is in general use to mean anyone who has a tenancy protected by legislation. These are usually considered to be long term tenants. A "fair rent" is a rent registered under the
Rent Act 1977. A "controlled tenancy" is a tenancy created before 1957. A "Regulated tenancy" is one created after 1965 that is regulated now by the Rent Act 1977 and for which a rent can be registered by the rent officer (sometimes called a "Fair Rent Officer"). A "protected tenant" is someone who has a tenancy protected by the Rent Acts. This can either be a "Contractual tenancy" during the term of a lease (contract) or tenancy agreement. When this contract expires the tenancy becomes a "statutory tenancy" in which the tenant "holds over" under the protection of the statutes (Rent Acts) on the same terms as the original contract (in so far as they are not overtaken by statute). It might be obvious but it is worth just repeating that a protected tenant with security of tenure is not much use if the rent cannot be controlled. A fair rent is not much use unless the tenant has protection from eviction.
1980 to 1989 The
Housing Act 1980 made various amendments to the
Rent Act 1977 that changed procedures for rent registration. The rent registration review period was reduced from three to two years. The periods of phasing of increases were consequently quickened. Following the referral of a decision to a Rent Assessment Committee the two-year period was made to run from the date of their decision rather than the original effective date. Registered rents were made effective from the date of registration rather than the date of the application. In those cases when the registration was made before the expiration of the two-year period, the registration took effect from the day following the expiry of the two-year period. The act made changes to the procedures for the need for Rent Officers to call consultations in certain circumstances. The act also made changes to the requirements necessary before a registration could be cancelled. The original registration had to be at least two years old. The landlord alone could make an application if the premises were no longer let on a regulated tenancy. A new mandatory ground for possession (Case 20) was introduced for lettings by servicemen. Changes were made to the mandatory grounds for possession for lettings by former owner occupiers and those who own homes intended for retirement, which covered circumstances that could not have been foreseen at the time of the letting. Rent Tribunals were abolished. Their functions, except for the power to grant security of tenure, were transferred to rent assessment committees. A more limited discretion to award security of tenure (a maximum of three months) was given to the county court, as part of the possession order proceedings. Any remaining controlled tenancies were converted to regulated tenancies. New protected shorthold tenancies were created that protected during the contractual term of a short fixed-term letting. A rent had to be registered at the time the tenancy was granted or a certificate of fair rent obtained before then and a registration made within twenty-eight days of the commencement of the tenancy. This requirement was removed for all registration areas outside Greater London by the
Protected Shorthold Tenancies (Rent Registration) Order 1981 (
SI 1981/1578) and for registration areas in Greater London by a similar order in 1987. Assured tenancies were created that gave certain approved bodies the right to create assured tenancies of new dwellings outside Rent Act protection at market rents. These tenancies were subject to the provisions of Part II of the
Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. Additional protection was given to council tenants and many housing association tenants, who were to be known as secure tenants. Council tenants were granted the right to buy their homes. Personal representatives of deceased resident landlords were given a period of two years (instead of the one year under the 1974 act) during which they had freedom to evict. The act qualified the description of accommodations so that a tenancy of part of a flat in a purpose-built block occupied by a resident landlord could not be subject to a protected tenancy, an unintended effect of the wording in the Rent Act 1974. Housing Associations registered under the
Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 might now be registered with the Housing Corporation even if their objectives were to acquire, repair, improve or convert houses for eventual disposal by sale as well as by lease. Prior to the 1980 act, housing associations had to keep their houses available for letting and were therefore prohibited from selling them. Housing associations were now enabled to build or to improve property or to put existing properties up for sale into shared ownership. Protection could now extend to previously protected tenancies—those that belonged to Her Majesty in right of the Crown, if managed by the
Crown Estate Commissioners (largely in the right of the
Duchy of Lancaster, tenancies that belong to the
Duchy of Cornwall), statutory tenancies under the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976 and long leaseholds at low rents (Part I Landlord and Tenant Act 1954). (Tenants of the Crown direct and of government departments (which includes tenants of a Health Service Body) remain outside protection).
Shared ownership leases were not to be treated as long tenancies at a low rent for the purposes of the
Leasehold Reform Act 1967. Rent Officers were asked to determine fair rents on a non-statutory basis for shared ownership properties. Initial enthusiasm was tempered when questions of some difficulty arose in the assessment of a fair rent relating to equity stakes and premiums. These were dealt with later in the
Housing and Planning Act 1986. The
Matrimonial Homes Act 1983 consolidated certain enactments relating to the rights of a husband or wife to occupy a dwelling house that had been a matrimonial home. Occupation by one spouse was to be treated as occupation by the other spouse. The act provided for the transfer of certain tenancies on divorce. The
Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings Act 1976 made provision for varying rights of occupation where both spouses (and a man and woman living together as man and wife) had rights in the matrimonial home. The 1976 act and the 1983 acts were further developed by the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, which also gave powers to the court in relation to the transfer of certain tenancies upon a decree of divorce, of nullity of marriage or of judicial separation. The
Mobile Homes Act 1983 replaced sections 1 to 6 of the
Mobile Homes Act 1976. It introduced important new rules about security of tenure to owners of residential mobile home sites and to those who owned the mobile home and rented a pitch from the site owner (including local authorities but not traveller sites). It exempted those who rent the mobile home from the site owner and those who only use it for holiday purposes. It also dealt with sales and gifts of mobile homes, inheritance and change of site ownership, pitch fees, other terms of agreements and provided machinery for dealing with disputes. The
Rent (Amendment) Act 1985 reversed the decision in
Pocock v. Steel (1985 CA), which decided that an
owner-occupier had to live in the house immediately before each and every letting to be able to obtain a mandatory order for possession. Words were inserted so that if it had "at any time" before the letting been occupied as the owner-occupier's residence, the Rent Act 1977 and the
Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 applied. This restored the original intention that had been destroyed by redrafting in the consolidation in 1968. This act (apart from emergency legislation) broke all speed records in its passage through the parliamentary timetables.
Three main acts in 1985 On 30 October 1985 there was a burst of general tidying up and consolidation with the publication of four acts. The
Housing (Consequential Provisions) Act 1985 (c. 71) repealed 80 parts of acts or whole acts relating to England and Wales, 18 relating to Scotland and 4 to Northern Ireland (from the
Brine Pumping (Compensation for Subsidence) Act 1891 (
54 & 55 Vict. c. 40) to acts only just passed in 1985). The
Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (c. 70) consolidated certain provisions relating to the law of landlord and tenant formerly found in the Housing Acts, Rent Acts and various other places. As such it created no new law. It incorporated sections as follows: • Information to be given to a tenant (e.g. landlord's identity etc.). • Provision of rent books (information to be contained and offences). • Implied terms as to fitness for human habitation. • Repairing obligations. • Reasonableness of service charges. • Leasehold Valuation Tribunals jurisdiction in certain cases to be exercisable by rent assessment committees. The
Housing Act 1985 (c. 68) consolidated certain provisions of the Housing Acts relating to housing associations and made some amendments to give effect to recommendations of the Law Commission and of the
Scottish Law Commission. Its main headings were: • The regulation of Housing Associations • Housing association finance • The Housing Corporation The Housing Act 1985 consolidated the Housing Acts (except the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (c. 70) and the
Housing Associations Act 1985 (c. 69)) and certain related provisions, with amendments intended to implement the recommendations of the Law Commission. This mammoth initiative reduced the principal acts relating to private lettings to the Rent Act 1977, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the Housing Associations Act 1985. However, it was not to be very long before further amendments were needed. The
Housing and Planning Act 1986 required that lawful premiums (paid in respect of some shared ownership leases, certain long tenancies (s. 127 Rent Act 1977) should be taken into account in the determination of a fair rent. Certain shared ownership leases were excluded from the operation of the Rent Act 1977, the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976 and part I of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967. Until the mid-1970s mortgages were largely unavailable for the purchase of flats (or large deposits were required with repayments at a high rate of interest). Large numbers of blocks of flats had been built in the 1930s usually on a leasehold basis for 99 years. Individual flats could only be sold on long leases for the remaining sixty or so years. Building societies did not consider this to be sufficient security for a mortgage. Once building societies changed their policies to offer 75% or sometimes larger mortgages at the same rates as paid for those for house purchases, landlords were able to sell flats as they became vacant on long leaseholds. Leases in older blocks with less than twenty years to run were almost impossible to sell. Landlords also began to offer long leases to sitting tenants sometimes at considerable discounts to open-market values. Now people rushed to get on the property ladder as house and flat prices rose as demand was stimulated. Investors from the Middle East after civil strife in Lebanon bought up many blocks of flats and moved to the UK. Unfortunately for the new flat owners, they inherited responsibilities in their new long leases that required them to contribute to the cost of the repair and replacement. Much of the equipment had been installed in the 1930s when the blocks built (lifts, central heating and hot water boilers, roofs and windows) which had been neglected in low rent times. Residents' associations were few and it took almost ten years before legislation was introduce to control exploitation by landlords and managing agents (whose fees calculated on the total cost of new work often at inflated cost also had to be paid by residents). The Nugee Committee (under the chairmanship of
Edward Nugee QC), which commenced work in February 1984, finally reported in February 1986 on the management of privately owned blocks of flats. The
Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 implemented the main recommendations and contained certain other measures relating to the rights of tenants of such flats and other dwellings. Various parts of the act came into force on dates between February 1988 and April 1989. • Certain qualifying tenants were given the right of first refusal to purchase their landlord's interest on a relevant disposal. • There was provision for the court to appoint managers to assume responsibility for the management of the premises containing flats where the landlord was in breach of any obligation owed to a tenant. • Certain qualifying tenants were given the right to acquire their landlord's interest without his consent by making application to the county court. • Any party to a long lease was given the right to make an application to the county court for an order varying the terms of the lease. • Substantial changes were made to the service charge provisions in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Service charges were to be held in trust, tenants were to be given additional rights as to insurance and recognized tenants' associations were to be consulted about managing agents. • A residential tenant's right to information about the landlord was extended. The Rent (Relief from Phasing) Order 1987 removed the requirement to phase the increase in registered rents under the Rent Act I977 and for statutory tenancies under the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976 but did not alter the phasing arrangements for housing association tenancies. They followed suit sometime later. However, increases in rent for first registrations of old decontrolled tenancies still remained subject to phasing. ==De-regulation 1989==