Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1972

64 Previous rent limit exceeding registered rent: special rent limit

(1) Where the rent limit for a dwelling-house immediately before the date of registration of a rent for that dwelling-house exceeded the rent so registered, the registration shall be provisional only until it takes effect in accordance with this section.

(2) If—

(a) no application is made under this section to the Secretary of State before the expiration of a period of 28 days beginning with the date of registration, or

(b) an application duly made to the Secretary of State under this section is refused,

the registration shall cease to be provisional, and shall take effect as from the date of registration.

(3) Notwithstanding section 67(2) of this Act, the reference in subsection (2)(a) above to the date of registration shall be construed, in a case where a rent determined by a rent assessment committee is registered in substitution for a rent determined by the rent officer, as a reference to the date on which the rent determined by the rent assessment committee was registered.

(4) The Secretary of State may, on an application made to him within the said period of 28 days, grant the application and direct that the rent limit for the dwelling-house shall, subject to Part IV of the Schedule to the [1971 c. 40.] Fire Precautions Act 1971, be such amount as is specified in the direction, being an amount not more than the said previous rent limit, but more than the rent which is provisionally registered.

The Secretary of State may include in a direction under this subsection such conditions as he thinks fit, and if any condition is not complied with the direction shall cease to have effect.

(5) The period for which the direction has effect shall begin with the date of the provisional registration, and the date when, subject to subsections (6) and (7) below, that period is to end shall be specified in the direction, being a date not more than three years and six months from the date of the provisional registration.

(6) The direction shall cease to have effect—

(a) if on a subsequent application for registration a different rent is registered for the dwelling-house and that rent is equal to or exceeds the rent specified in the direction, or

(b) the rent assessment committee determine a rent in substitution for the rent registered by the rent officer, and that rent is equal to or exceeds the rent specified in the direction, or

(c) the applicant ceases to be the landlord of the dwelling-house.

(7) Subject to subsection (6) above, if on the date specified as the end of the period under subsection (5) above a subsequent application for registration is pending, the direction shall continue in force until that application has been disposed of by the rent officer.

(8) When the period for which a direction has effect ends, and the provisional registration is not superseded by a new registration under paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of subsection (6) above, the registration shall cease to be provisional and, except for the purposes of section 40 of the Act of 1971 (right to apply for registration of a new rent after 3 years), shall take effect at the time when the period ends.

(9) Where a registration is by virtue of this section a provisional registration, the reference in section 40(4)(b) of the Act of 1971 to the date on which the registration of rent took effect shall be construed as a reference to the date of the provisional registration.

(10) The rent officer shall notify the tenant of any case where a registration is by virtue of this section a provisional registration,

(11) This section applies whether the registration mentioned in subsection (1) above is the first or any subsequent registration and, in the case of a subsequent registration, whether or not the rent limit immediately before the date of registration was that fixed by a direction under this section.

(12) A confirmation of a rent by the rent officer shall be treated for the purposes of this section as a registration of a rent which supersedes the registration, whether or not it is a provisional registration, prior to the confirmation.