Valuation Office Agency Rent Officers: Lettings Information
Details why we collect Lettings Information and what is produced from the data collected.
Valuation Office Agency (VOA) Rent Officers depend on the goodwill and trust of landlords, letting agents and tenants who provide rental levels being paid in the private rented sector (PRS). Around half a million PRS records are voluntarily provided each year. Together they form a unique database representing rents paid in England.
When you contribute details of rent levels you help to improve data used to:
- determine levels of Local Housing Allowance Rates across England
- provide local authorities in England with Housing Benefit determinations
- working closely with the ONS, they use our data for research and statistical purposes including:
- Official Private Rental Market Statistics (Private rental market summary statistics in England Statistical bulletins - Office for National Statistics (PRMS) covering rental levels for every local authority area in England
- Monthly Index of Private Housing Rental Prices (Index of Private Housing Rental Prices, UK Statistical bulletins - Office for National Statistics (IPHRP) an experimental statistic measuring the change in price of renting residential property
- measures of inflation like the Consumer Price Index (Housing) – the government preferred inflation measure - your rental data contributes up to 20% of CPIH, the ONS lead measure of inflation
How you can help
You can use our online forms to submit rental data. Simply download, complete and email to us at roli@voa.gov.uk
Lettings and management agents who wish to supply a high volume of rental details digitally can contact helpdesk.lha@voa.gov.uk
The basic rental details needed are:
- full property address
- type of property
- number of bedrooms and living rooms
- tenancy start date
- rent paid
Individual properties and the source of rental information remains confidential. For more details see our Privacy Notice.