Valuation Office Agency Rent Officer Duties
VOA Rent Officers carry out a range of statutory duties covering rental data, fair rent and housing benefit valuations and also provide DWP annually with current Local Housing Allowance rates.
A brief history
Rent Officers were created by the Rent Act 1965 to register ‘Fair Rents’ for protected tenancies, and originally operated under the administration of a ‘Proper Officer’ within the County Council / London Borough structure.
We took on additional Housing Benefit work following the introduction of Assured Shorthold Tenancies by the Housing Act 1988 and in 1999 we became a separate agency within various Government departments. We then merged with the VOA after the introduction of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) in 2008.
Today our data contributes to benefits which support over two million PRS households in England through Housing Benefit, LHA and Universal Credit (UC) (Source: Stat-Xplore, Dept for Work & Pensions).
Collecting Rental Data
VOA Rent officers collect rental data from a variety of sources to get a representative sample of the private rental market. This data is used for valuations, contributes to the production of monthly Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) and to CPI(H). Find out more about lettings information.
Fair rents
If a tenancy started before 15 January 1989, this is likely to be a regulated or secure tenancy. A landlord or tenant of a regulated or secure tenancy can make an application to have a fair rent registered. Find out more about fair rents.
Housing Benefit
Rent Officers Provide valuations for housing benefit claims exempt from Universal Credit, inspecting when required. This includes ‘supported accommodation, houseboats, moorings for houseboats, caravans, caravan sites and rooms with ‘board’
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are updated every April along with the housing element of Universal Credit. They are based on your rental data, subject to government policy.
You can find the current LHA rates on LHA-Direct by searching by postcode or local authority area.
Benefit payments are made by your local authority.
Updates to this page
Last updated 5 September 2024 + show all updates
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Updated 'Private Rental Market Statistics' to new terminology.
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The content has been updated.
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First published.