Valuation Office Agency Rent Officer Duties
VOA Rent Officers carry out a range of statutory duties covering rental data, fair rent and housing benefit valuations and also provide DWP annually with current Local Housing Allowance rates.
Collecting Rental Data
VOA Rent officers collect rental data from a variety of sources to get a representative sample of the private rental market. This data is used for valuations, contributes to the production of Private Rental Market Statistics and to CPI(H).
Fair rents
If a tenancy started before 15 January 1989, this is likely to be a regulated or secure tenancy. A landlord or tenant of a regulated or secure tenancy can make an application to have a fair rent registered.
Housing Benefit
Rent Officers Provide valuations for housing benefit claims exempt from Universal Credit, inspecting when required. This includes ‘supported accommodation, houseboats, moorings for houseboats, caravans, caravan sites and rooms with ‘board’
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are used to calculate Housing Benefit for tenants on Universal Credit renting from private landlords.
You can find the current LHA rates on LHA-Direct by searching by postcode or local authority area.
Benefit payments are made by your local authority.