Rent Act 1977

89Phasing of progression to registered rent

(1)This section applies where a rent is registered for a dwelling-house (whether it is the first or any subsequent registration) unless at the date of registration there is no tenant and no person to whom a tenancy has been granted.

(2)The rent limit shall progress from the rent limit immediately before the date of registration to the registered rent in stages, and—

(a)for any rental period beginning in the first stage, the rent limit shall be the rent limit immediately before the date of registration plus £075 per week, or the registered rent, whichever is the less ;

(b)for any rental period beginning in the second or any subsequent stage, the rent limit shall be the rent payable for the first rental period of the last previous stage plus £0.75 per week, or the registered rent, whichever is the less.

(3)The first stage shall last for 52 weeks from the date of registration, or from the beginning of the first rental period for which the rent is first increased (by any amount) on or after that date, whichever is the later.

(4)Any subsequent stage shall last 52 weeks from the end of the last previous stage, or from the beginning of the first rental period for which the rent is first increased (by any amount) after the end of the last previous stage, whichever is the later.

(5)If a tenancy of the dwelling-house is granted at any time when—

(a)the rent limit is less than the registered rent, and

(b)the tenant is neither the person who, at the time when the previous tenancy (or the last previous tenancy) ended, was the tenant under that tenancy nor a member of that tenant's family who resided with him,

the registered rent shall become the rent limit from the beginning of the new tenancy, and the stages by which the rent limit was to progress shall terminate.

(6)The registration of a lower or higher rent during the progression from the rent limit in force before the prior registration shall not alter the stages by which the rent limit is to progress.

(7)If a higher rent is registered in the 52 weeks beginning with the first rental period for which the rent is increased up to the rent registered on the prior registration, the first stage in the progression from that rent up to the later registered rent shall not begin until the end of that period of 52 weeks.

(8)If for any rental period beginning after the date of registration 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 immediately before the date of registration, any limit imposed by this section for that rental period shall be increased or decreased by the amount of the difference, but not so as to enable any rent to be increased above the rent limit under section 88 of this Act.

(9)An increase of rent made solely to reflect an increase in the amount of rates borne by the landlord or a superior landlord shall be disregarded for the purposes of subsections (3) and (4) above.