Rent Act 1965
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1965 c. 75 |
Rent Act 1965
1965 CHAPTER 75
An Act to restore the right to retain possession of certain dwellings; to make further provision with respect to security of tenure, rents and premiums; to restrict evictions without due process of law; and for purposes connected with those matters.
[8th November 1965]
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:—
Part I
Regulated Tenancies
Extension of application of Rent Acts
1 Regulated tenancies.
(1) The Rent Acts shall apply, subject to the provisions of this section, to every tenancy of a dwelling-house the rateable value of which on the appropriate day did not exceed, in Greater London 400, and elsewhere in Great Britain 200; and references (however expressed) in any enactment to a dwelling-house to which those Acts apply shall be construed accordingly.
(2) The Rent Acts shall not by virtue of this section apply to a tenancy of a dwelling-house unless they would, if amended in accordance with Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act, apply to that tenancy but for one or more of the following, that is to say—
(a ) that the rateable value of the dwelling-house at any date exceeded the value by reference to which at that date the application of the Rent Acts to a dwelling-house was limited by section 11(1) of the Rent Act 1957 or any earlier Act; or
(b ) that the dwelling-house consists of premises falling within section 35 of the Act of 1954 or section 27 of the Scottish Act of 1954 (premises produced by conversion or erection completed after the commencement of that Act); or
(c ) that the tenancy was created as mentioned in section 11(2) of the Rent Act 1957 , that is to say, by a lease or agreement coming into operation at or after the commencement of that Act.
(3) This section shall not affect the application to any tenancy of Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 or of the Tenancy of Shops (Scotland) Acts 1949 and 1964, and the Rent Acts shall not by virtue of this section apply to a tenancy to which that Part or the said Acts of 1949 and 1964 apply, without prejudice, however, to their application to any sub-let part of the premises comprised in it, or of section 41 of the Act of 1954 (protection of sub-tenants of parts of premises) at the coming to an end of the tenancy.
(4) In this Act ‘regulated tenancy’ means—
(a ) a tenancy to which the Rent Acts apply by virtue of this section: or
(b ) a statutory tenancy arising on the termination of such a tenancy as is mentioned in paragraph (a ) of this subsection.
(5) Where a tenancy to which the Rent Acts apply by virtue of this section (in this subsection referred to as a ‘contractual tenancy’) is followed by a statutory tenancy they shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as together constituting one regulated tenancy; and in this Act any rental period beginning before the termination of a contractual tenancy is referred to as a ‘contractual period’, and any rental period beginning while a regulated tenancy is a statutory tenancy as a ‘statutory period’.
(6) In their application to regulated tenancies the Rent Acts shall have effect subject to the amendments specified in Schedule 1 to this Act and to the other provisions of this Act (and without regard to any provision excluding their application by reason of the matters mentioned in paragraphs (a ) to (c ) of subsection (2) of this section).
(7) Nothing in this section shall affect the application of the Rent Acts to a tenancy to which they apply apart from this section.
Regulation of rent
2 Rent under regulated tenancy.
2. The rent payable under a regulated tenancy shall, instead of being controlled,—
be regulated in accordance with the following provisions of this Act.
3 Limit on contractual rent.
(1) Where the rent payable for any contractual period of a regulated tenancy of a dwelling-house would exceed the limit specified in the following provisions of this section, the amount of the excess shall, notwithstanding anything in any agreement, be irrecoverable from the tenant.
(2) Where a rent for the dwelling-house is registered under this Act the said limit shall be the rent so registered.
(3) Where no rent for the dwelling-house is registered under this Act (whether or not Part II of this Act is in operation in the area in which the dwelling-house is situated) the said limit shall, subject to any adjustment under section 4 of this Act, be—
(a ) if not more than three years before the regulated tenancy began the dwelling-house was the subject of another regulated tenancy, the rent payable under that other tenancy (or, if there was more than one, the last of them) for the last rental period thereof;
(b ) in any other case, the rent payable under the terms of the lease or agreement creating the tenancy, as varied, if the tenancy began before the commencement of this Act, by any agreement made before that commencement.
4 Adjustment, before registration, of limit imposed by section 3.
(1) The following provisions of this section shall apply in relation to a contractual period for which the limit imposed by section 3 of this Act is that specified in subsection (3) thereof; and in those provisions—
‘the previous tenancy’ means the other regulated tenancy referred to in paragraph (a ) of that subsection, and
‘the previous terms’ means the terms referred to in paragraph (b ) of that subsection.
(2) Where, under the terms of a regulated tenancy, there is, as respects—
(a ) the responsibility for any repairs, or
(b ) the provision of services for the tenant by the landlord or a superior landlord, or
(c ) the use of furniture by the tenant,
any difference compared with the terms of the previous tenancy or, as the case may be, the previous terms, such as to affect the amount of the rent which it is reasonable to charge, the said limit shall be increased or decreased by an appropriate amount.
(3) Where for any contractual period there is a difference between the amount (if any) of the rates borne by the landlord or a superior landlord in respect of the dwelling-house and the amount (if any) so borne during the last rental period of the previous tenancy, or, as the case may be, the first rental period for which the previous terms were agreed, the said limit shall be increased or decreased by the amount of the difference.
(4) Where for any contractual period there is an increase in the cost of the provision of the services (if any) provided for the tenant by the landlord or a superior landlord compared with that cost at the time the rent for the previous tenancy was agreed, or, as the case may be, the previous terms were agreed, such as to affect the amount of the rent which it is reasonable to charge, the said limit shall be increased by an appropriate amount.
(5) If an improvement has been effected in the dwelling-house and the improvement was completed after the commencement of this Act and after the time as from which the rent for the previous tenancy was agreed or, as the case may be, the previous terms were agreed, the said limit shall be increased by twelve and a half per cent. per annum of the amount expended on the improvement by the landlord or any superior landlord or any person from whom the landlord or any superior landlord derives title.
(6) Where the previous terms provide for a variation of the rent in any of the circumstances mentioned in the preceding provisions of this section the said limit shall not be further varied under this section by reason of the same circumstances.
(7) Any question whether, or by what amount, the said limit is increased or decreased by virtue of subsection (2) or subsection (4) of this section shall be determined by the county court or, in Scotland, the sheriff, and any determination under this subsection—
(a ) may be made so as to relate to past rental periods; and
(b ) shall have effect as respects rental periods subsequent to those to which it relates until revoked or varied by a fresh determination.
5 Limit of rent during statutory periods.
5. Except as otherwise provided by the following provisions of this Part of this Act, where the rent payable for any statutory period of a regulated tenancy would exceed the rent recoverable for the last contractual period thereof, the amount of the excess shall, notwithstanding anything in any agreement, be irrecoverable from the tenant.
6 Variation, before registration, of rent recoverable during statutory periods.
(1) Where no rent is registered under this Act for a dwelling-house then, whether or not Part II of this Act is in force in the area in which the dwelling-house is situated, the following provisions of this section shall have effect with respect to the rent recoverable for any statutory period under a regulated tenancy of the dwelling-house.
(2) Where any rates in respect of the dwelling-house are, or were during the last contractual period, borne by the landlord or a superior landlord, then for any statutory period for which the amount of the rates, ascertained in accordance with Schedule 2 to the Rent Act 1957 , differs from the amount, so ascertained, of the rates for the last contractual period the...
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