Rent Act 1968
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1968 c. 23 |
Rent Act 1968
1968 CHAPTER 23
An Act to consolidate the Rent and Mortgage Interest Restrictions Acts 1920 to 1939, 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, the Rent Act 1957 (except section 16 thereof), the Rent Act 1965 (except Part III thereof) and other related enactments.
[8th May 1968]
B e 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
Preliminary
1 Protected tenancies.
(1) A tenancy under which a dwelling-house (which may be a house or part of a house) is let as a separate dwelling is a protected tenancy for the purposes of this Act unless—
( a ) the dwelling-house has or had on the appropriate day a rateable value exceeding, if it is in Greater London, 400 or, if it is elsewhere, 200; or
( b ) the tenancy is one with respect to which section 2 below otherwise provides; or
( c ) by virtue of section 4 or section 5 below, the tenancy is for the time being precluded from being a protected tenancy by reason of the body in whom the landlord's interest is vested;
and any reference to a protected tenant shall be construed accordingly.
(2) For the purposes of this Act, any land or premises let together with a dwelling-house shall, unless it consists of agricultural land exceeding two acres in extent, be treated as part of the dwelling-house; and for this purpose ‘agricultural land’ has the meaning set out in paragraph ( a ) of section 26(3) of the General Rate Act 1967 (which relates to the exclusion of agricultural land and premises from liability for rating).
(3) If any question arises in any proceedings whether a dwelling-house is within the limits of rateable value in subsection (1)( a ) above, it shall be deemed to be within those limits unless the contrary is shown.
2 Tenancies excepted from definition of ‘protected tenancy’.
(1) A tenancy is not a protected tenancy if—
( a ) under the tenancy either no rent is payable or, subject to section 7(3) below, the rent payable is less than two-thirds of the rateable value which is or was the rateable value of the dwelling-house on the appropriate day; or
( b ) under the tenancy the dwelling-house is bona fide let at a rent which includes payments in respect of board, attendance or use of furniture; or
( c ) subject to section 1(2) above, the dwelling-house which is subject to the tenancy is let together with land other than the site of the dwelling-house; or
( d ) the dwelling-house is comprised in an agricultural holding (within the meaning of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1948 ) and is occupied by the person responsible for the control (whether as tenant or as servant or agent of the tenant) of the farming of the holding.
(2) In the following provisions of this Act, a tenancy falling within paragraph ( a ) of subsection (1) above is referred to as a ‘tenancy at a low rent’.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph ( b ) of subsection (1) above, a dwelling-house shall not be taken to be bona fide let at a rent which includes payments in respect of attendance or the use of furniture unless the amount of rent which is fairly attributable to attendance or use of furniture, having regard to the value of the attendance or the use to the tenant, forms a substantial part of the whole rent.
3 Statutory tenants and tenancies.
(1) Subject to sections 4 and 5 below—
( a ) after the termination of a protected tenancy of a dwelling-house the person who, immediately before that termination, was the protected tenant of the dwelling-house shall, if and so long as he occupies the dwelling-house as his residence, be the statutory tenant of it; and
( b ) the provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect for determining what person (if any) is the statutory tenant of a dwelling-house at any time after the death of a person who, immediately before his death, was either a protected tenant of the dwelling-house or the statutory tenant of it by virtue of paragraph ( a ) above;
and a dwelling-house is referred to as subject to a statutory tenancy when there is a statutory tenant of it.
(2) In paragraph ( a ) of subsection (1) above and in Schedule 1 to this Act, the phrase ‘if and so long as he occupies the dwelling-house as his residence’ shall be construed as requiring the fulfilment of the same, and only the same, qualifications (whether as to residence or otherwise) as had to be fulfilled before the commencement of this Act to entitle a tenant, within the meaning of the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act 1920 , to retain possession, by virtue of that Act and not by virtue of a tenancy, of a dwelling-house to which that Act applied.
(3) A person who becomes a statutory tenant of a dwelling-house as mentioned in paragraph ( a ) of subsection (1) above is, in this Act, referred to as a statutory tenant by virtue of his previous protected tenancy, and a person who becomes a statutory tenant as mentioned in paragraph ( b ) of that subsection is, in this Act, referred to as a statutory tenant by succession.
4 No protected or statutory tenancy where landlord's interest belongs to Crown.
(1) A tenancy shall not be a protected tenancy at any time when the interest of the landlord under that tenancy belongs to Her Majesty in right of the Crown or of the Duchy of Lancaster, or to the Duchy of Cornwall, or to a Government department, or is held in trust for Her Majesty for the purposes of a Government department.
(2) A person shall not at any time be a statutory tenant of a dwelling-house if the interest of his immediate landlord would at that time, belong or be held as mentioned in subsection (1) above.
5 No protected or statutory tenancy where landlord's interest belongs to local authority, etc.
(1) A tenancy shall not be a protected tenancy at any time when the interest of the landlord under that tenancy belongs to any of the bodies specified in subsection (2) below, nor shall a person at any time be a statutory tenant of a dwelling-house if the interest of his immediate landlord would belong at that time to any of those bodies.
(2) The bodies referred to in subsection (1) above are—
( a ) the council of a county or county borough;
( b ) the council of a county district or, in the application of this Act to the Isles of Scilly, the Council of the Isles of Scilly;
( c ) the Greater London Council, the council of a London borough or the Common Council of the City of London;
( d ) the Commission for the New Towns;
( e ) the Housing Corporation;
( f ) a development corporation established by an order made, or having effect as if made, under the New Towns Act 1965 ; and
( g ) a housing trust (as defined in subsection (3) below) which is a charity within the meaning of the Charities Act 1960 .
(3) In subsection (2)( g ) above, ‘housing trust’ means a corporation or body of persons which,—
( a ) is required by the terms of its constituent instrument to devote the whole of its funds, including any surplus which may arise from its operations, to the following purposes, that is to say, the provision of houses for persons the majority of whom are in fact members of the working classes, and other purposes incidental thereto; or
( b ) is required by the terms of its constituent instrument to devote the whole or substantially the whole of its funds to charitable purposes and in fact devotes the whole or substantially the whole of its funds to the purposes set out in paragraph ( a ) above.
(4) In subsection (3) above, ‘house’ includes—
( a ) any yard, garden, outhouses and appurtenances belonging thereto or usually enjoyed therewith; and
( b ) any part of a building which is occupied or intended to be occupied as a separate dwelling.
(5) If any of the conditions specified in subsection (6) below is fulfilled, a tenancy shall not be a protected tenancy at any time when the interest of the landlord under that tenancy belongs to a housing association, nor shall a person at any time be a statutory tenant of a dwelling-house if the interest of his immediate landlord would belong at that time to a housing association; and in this section ‘housing association’ has the same meaning as in the Housing Act 1957 .
(6) The conditions referred to in subsection (5) above are as follows,—
( a ) that the dwelling-house was provided by the housing association with assistance under section 2 of the Housing &c. Act 1923 , section 93(3) of the Housing Act 1936 or section 119(3) of the Housing Act 1957 (powers of local authorities to assist housing associations generally);
( b ) that the dwelling-house was provided by the housing association in pursuance of an arrangement under section 29 of the Housing Act 1930 , section 27 of the Housing Act 1935 , section 94 of the Housing Act 1936, or section 120 of the Housing Act 1957 (local authority arrangements for provision of housing);
( c ) that the dwelling-house was provided or improved by the housing association in accordance with arrangements under section 31 of the Housing Act 1949 or section 121 of the Housing Act 1957 (local authority arrangements for improvement of housing);
( d ) that the housing association is registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 and...
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