Rent Act 1974
| Year | 1974 |
Rent Act 1974
1974 CHAPTER 51
An Act to amend the Rent Act 1968 and the Rent (Scotland) Act 1971 and the provisions of Part II of the Housing Finance Act 1972 and of the Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1972 relating to rent allowances, and for connected purposes.
[31st July 1974]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Modifications of Rent Act in relation to furnished and other tenancies
1 Extension of protection afforded to furnished tenancies.
(1) On and after the commencement date, —
(a ) a tenancy of a dwelling-house shall no longer be prevented from being a protected tenancy for the purposes of the Rent Act by reason only that, under the tenancy, the dwelling-house is bona fide let at a rent which includes payments in respect of the use of furniture; and
(b ) subject to the following provisions of this Act, references in the Rent Act (and in any other enactment or instrument in which those expressions have the same meaning as in that Act) to a protected tenancy, a statutory tenancy or a regulated tenancy shall be construed accordingly.
(2) Any reference in this Act or the Rent Act to a protected furnished tenancy, a statutory furnished tenancy or a regulated furnished tenancy is a reference to a protected tenancy, a statutory tenancy or a regulated tenancy, as the case may be, under which the rent for the dwelling-house concerned includes such payments in respect of the use of furniture as, apart from subsection (1) above, subsection (4)(a ) below and the repeals effected by this Act, would prevent a tenancy of the dwelling-house at that rent from being a protected tenancy.
(3) Notwithstanding anything in section 7(1) of or Schedule 2 to the Rent Act (controlled and regulated tenancies) no protected furnished tenancy or statutory furnished tenancy shall be a controlled tenancy.
(4) In consequence of the provisions of this Act,—
(a ) in section 2(1)(b ) of the Rent Act (exclusion from protection of tenancies where the rent includes payments in respect of board, attendance or use of furniture) for the words ‘attendance or use of furniture’ there shall be substituted the words ‘or attendance’;
(b ) Schedule 3 to the Rent Act (grounds for possession) shall have effect subject to the modifications in Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act;
(c ) Parts IV, VIII and IX of the Rent Act 1968 shall have effect subject to the amendments in Part II of that Schedule; and
(d ) Parts IV, IX and X of the Rent (Scotland) Act 1971 shall have effect subject to the amendments in Part III of that Schedule.
2 Certain tenancies not to be protected.
(1) In subsection (1) of section 2 of the Rent Act (tenancies excepted from definition of ‘protected tenancy’) after paragraph (b ) there shall be inserted the following paragraphs:—
‘(bb ) the tenancy is granted to a person who is pursuing or intends to pursue a course of study provided by a specified educational institution and is so granted either by that institution or by another specified institution or body of persons; or
(bbb ) the purpose of the tenancy is to confer on the tenant the right to occupy the dwelling-house for a holiday; or’.
(2) After subsection (3) of section 2 of the Rent Act there shall be added the following subsection:—
(4) In paragraph (bb ) of subsection (1) above ‘specified’ means specified, or of a class specified, for the purposes of that paragraph by regulations made by the Secretary of State by statutory instrument; and a statutory instrument containing any such regulations shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.’
(3) After section 5 of the Rent Act there shall be inserted the section 5A set out in paragraph 1 or, as the case may require, paragraph 2 of Part I of Schedule 2 to this Act and, accordingly, in section 1(1) of the Rent Act (definition of protected tenancy) at the end of paragraph (c ) there shall be added the words—
‘or
(d ) by virtue of section 5A below, the tenancy has at all times since it was granted been precluded from being a protected tenancy’.
(4) Part IX of the Rent Act 1968 shall have effect subject to the amendments in Part II of Schedule 2 to this Act and Part X of the Rent (Scotland) Act 1971 shall have effect subject to the amendments in Part III of that Schedule.
3 Recovery of possession of dwelling-houses let on certain tenancies.
(1) In Part II of Schedule 3 to the Rent Act 1968 (Cases in which court must order possession of dwelling-house subject to regulated tenancy) the following Cases shall be inserted after Case 10:—
‘
Where a person (in this Case referred to as ‘the owner’) who acquired the dwelling-house or any interest therein with a view to occupying it as his residence at such time as he might retire from regular employment let it on a regulated tenancy before he has so retired and—
Provided that if the court is of the opinion that, notwithstanding that the condition in paragraph (a ) or paragraph (b ) above is not complied with, it is just and equitable to make an order for possession of the dwelling-house, the court may dispense with the requirements of either or both of those paragraphs, as the case may require.
Case
Where the dwelling-house is let under a tenancy for a term of years certain not exceeding 8 months and—
and for the purposes of this Case a tenancy shall be treated as being for a term of years certain notwithstanding that it is liable to determination by re-entry or on the happening of any event other than the giving of notice by the landlord to determine the term.
Case
Where the dwelling house is let under a tenancy for a term of years certain not exceeding 12 months and—
and for the purposes of this Case a tenancy shall be treated as being for a term of years certain notwithstanding that it is liable to determination by re-entry or on the happening of any event other than the giving of notice by the landlord to determine the term.’
(2) In Part II of Schedule 3 to the Rent (Scotland) Act 1971 (Cases in which court must order possession of dwelling-house subject to regulated tenancy) the following Cases shall be inserted after Case 11:—
‘Case 11A
Where a person (in this Case referred to as ‘the owner’) who acquired the dwelling-house or any interest therein with a view to occupying it as his residence at such time as he might retire from regular employment let it on a regulated tenancy before he has so retired and—
(a ) not later than the relevant date the landlord gave notice in writing to the tenant that possession might be recovered under this Case; and
(b ) the dwelling-house has not, since the commencement date, within the meaning of the Rent Act 1974, been let by the owner on a protected tenancy with respect to which the condition mentioned in paragraph (a ) above was not satisfied; and
(c ) the court is satisfied either that the owner has retired from regular employment and requires the dwelling-house as a residence or that the owner has died and the dwelling-house is required as a residence for a member of his family who was residing with him at the time of his death:
Provided that if the court is of the opinion that, notwithstanding that the condition in paragraph (a ) or paragraph (b ) above is not complied with, it is just and equitable to make an order for possession of the dwelling-house, the court may dispense with the requirements of either or both of those paragraphs, as the case may require.
Case 11B
Where the dwelling-house is let under a tenancy for a specified period not exceeding 8 months and—
(a ) not later than the relevant date the landlord gave notice in writing to the tenant that possession might be recovered under this Case; and
(b ) the dwelling-house was, at some time within the period of 12 months ending on the relevant date, occupied under a right to occupy it for a holiday;
and for the purposes of this Case a tenancy shall be treated as being for a specified period—
(i) of less than 8 months...
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