Rent Act 1977

63 Schemes for appointment of rent officers.E+W

(1)The Secretary of State shall for every registration area make, after consultation with the local authority, a scheme providing for the appointment by the proper officer of the local authority—

(a)of such number of rent officers for the area as may be determined by or in accordance with the scheme, . . . F1

(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

(2)A scheme under this section—

(a)shall provide for the payment by the local authority to rent officers . . . F2 of remuneration and allowances in accordance with scales approved by the Secretary of State with the consent of the Treasury;

(b)shall prohibit the dismissal of a rent officer . . . F3 except by the proper officer of the local authority on the direction, or with the consent, of the Secretary of State;

(c)shall require the local authority to provide for the rent officers office accommodation and clerical and other assistance;

(d)shall allocate, or confer on the proper officer of the local authority the duty of allocating, work as between the rent officers and shall confer on the proper officer the duty of supervising the conduct of rent officers . . . F4; . . . F5

(e). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6

[F7(2A) A scheme under this section may make all or any of the following provisions—

(a)provision requiring the consent of the Secretary of State to the appointment of rent officers;

(b)provision with respect to the appointment of rent officers for fixed periods;

(c)provision for the proper officer of the local authority, in such circumstances and subject to such conditions (as to consent or otherwise) as may be specified in the scheme,—

(i)to designate a person appointed or to be appointed a rent officer as chief rent officer and to designate one or more such persons as senior rent officers;

(ii)to delegate to a person so designated as chief rent officer such functions as may be specified in the scheme; and

(iii)to revoke a designation under sub-paragraph (i) above and to revoke or vary a delegation under sub-paragraph (ii) above;

(d)provision with respect to the delegation of functions by a chief rent officer to other rent officers (whether designated as senior rent officers or not);

(e)provision as to the circumstances in which and the terms on which a rent officer appointed by the scheme may undertake functions outside the area to which the scheme relates in accordance with paragraph (f) below;

(f)provision under which a rent officer appointed for an area other than that to which the scheme relates may undertake functions in the area to which the scheme relates and for such a rent officer to be treated for such purposes as may be specified in the scheme (which may include the purposes of paragraphs (c) and (d) above and paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (2) above) as if he were a rent officer appointed under the scheme; and

(g)provision conferring functions on the proper officer of a local authority with respect to the matters referred to in paragraphs (d) to (f) above.]

(3)For the purposes of any local Act scheme, within the meaning of section 8 of the M1Superannuation Act 1972, rent officers . . . F8 appointed in pursuance of a scheme under this section shall be deemed to be officers in the employment of the local authority for whose area the scheme is made; and for the purposes of—

(a)Part III of the M2Social Security Pensions Act 1975, and

(b)the M3Social Security Act 1975,

they shall be deemed to be in that employment under a contract of service.

(4)References in this Part of this Act to the rent officer are references to any rent officer appointed for any area who is authorised to act in accordance with a scheme under this section.

(5)A scheme under this section may be varied or revoked by a subsequent scheme made thereunder.

(6)The Secretary of State shall, in respect of each financial year, make to any local authority incurring expenditure which is of a kind mentioned in subsection (7) below, a grant equal to that expenditure.

(7)The expenditure mentioned in subsection (6) above is any expenditure—

(a)attributable to this section [F9or an order under section 121 of the Housing Act 1988], or

(b)incurred in respect of pensions, allowances or gratuities payable to or in respect of rent officers . . . F10 (appointed in pursuance of a scheme under this section) by virtue of regulations under section 7 [F11or section 24] of the M4Superannuation Act 1972 [F12or]

[F13(c)incurred in respect of increases of pensions payable to or in respect of rent officers (so appointed) by virtue of the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971].

(8)Any expenditure incurred by the Secretary of State by virtue of subsection (6) above shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament.

[F14(9)In the case of a registration area which is a metropolitan county this section shall apply as if—

(a)the first reference to the local authority in subsection (1) were a reference to the council of each district in the county; and

(b)the second reference to the local authority in that subsection, the references to the local authority in subsection (2) and the reference to the local authority for whose area the scheme is made in subsection (3) were references to such one of the councils of the districts in that county as has been designated by the scheme.]