Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976

Statutory tenancies E+W

10 Terms and conditions. E+W

(1) Schedule 5 to this Act contains provisions about the terms of a statutory tenancy.

(2) Schedule 5 to this Act shall not impose any liability to pay rent under a statutory tenancy (whether the protected occupier was a tenant or a licensee), and accordingly no rent shall be payable under a statutory tenancy until rent becomes payable by virtue of an agreement under section 11 of this Act, or by virtue of a notice of increase under section 12 or 14 of this Act.

(3) Rent under a statutory tenancy which is a weekly tenancy shall be payable weekly in arrear, except that—

(a) if a rent or equivalent payment was payable under the protected occupancy, and was so payable otherwise than in arrear, rent under the statutory tenancy shall be payable in that other way, and

(b) this subsection has effect subject to any agreement between the landlord and the tenant.

(4) The day on which rent is payable weekly in arrear in accordance with subsection (3) above shall be—

(a) where rent or any equivalent payment was payable weekly in arrear under the protected occupancy, the day on which it was so payable,

(b) where paragraph (a) does not apply, and at the end of the protected occupancy the protected occupier was being paid weekly wages, the day on which the wages were paid,

(c) in any other case such day as the landlord and tenant may agree, or in default of agreement, Friday in each week.

(5) The covenants implied in the statutory tenancy shall include a covenant to pay rent in accordance with this Part of this Act.

11 Agreed rents. E+W

(1) The landlord and the statutory tenant may by agreement fix the rent payable under a statutory tenancy (or may agree that no rent shall be payable under the statutory tenancy).

(2) An agreement under this section may be made at any time, including a time before the beginning of the statutory tenancy, or a time when a rent is registered for the dwelling-house.

(3) The rent so fixed shall not exceed—

(a) where a rent is registered for the dwelling-house at the time when the agreement is made, the weekly or other periodical equivalent of the amount of the rent so registered,

(b) where a rent is not so registered, the amount of the rent based on rateable value defined in the next following section.

(4) Where a rent is registered for the dwelling-house at any time after the agreement is made, as from the date from which the registration takes effect the rent payable under the agreement shall not exceed the weekly or other periodical equivalent of the amount of the rent so registered.

(5) If the rent payable under the agreement exceeds the limit imposed by subsection (3) or (4) above, the amount of the excess shall be irrecoverable from the tenant.

(6) Unless the contrary intention appears from the agreement, it shall be terminable by the landlord or the tenant by notice in writing served on the other.

(7) The notice shall specify the date from which the agreement is terminated, which shall be not earlier than four weeks after service of the notice.

(8) Subject to subsection (3) above, an agreement made under this section may from time to time be varied by a further agreement so made, whether or not there has been a change in the persons who are landlord and tenant.

(9) If and so long as, in the period following the termination of an agreement under this section, no notice of increase under section 12 or section 14 of this Act takes effect (and no subsequent agreement is in force), the rent payable under the statutory tenancy shall be the same as the rent payable, or last payable, under the agreement, and it shall be payable for equivalent rental periods, and in other respects in the same way as, the rent was payable, or last payable, under the agreement.

(10) Where a rent is registered for the dwelling-house at any time after the termination of the agreement, as from the date from which the registration takes effect the rent payable under subsection (9) above shall not exceed the weekly or other periodical equivalent of the amount of the rent so registered; and if the rent so payable exceeds the limit imposed by the foregoing provision of this subsection, the amount of the excess shall be irrecoverable from the tenant.

(11) If the agreement mentioned in subsection (9) above provided that no rent was payable under the statutory tenancy, no rent shall be payable in the period for which that subsection applies.

12 Provisional rents. E+W

(1) This section applies where a rent is not registered for a dwelling-house which is subject to a statutory tenancy.

(2) If the rent payable for any period of the statutory tenancy would be less than the rent based on rateable value, it may be increased up to the amount of that rent by a notice of increase served by the landlord on the tenant.

(3) The notice shall specify the amount of the rent based on rateable value, and set out the landlord’s calculation of that amount.

(4) The notice shall also specify the date from which the notice is to take effect, which shall not be earlier than four weeks before service of the notice, and not at a time when an agreement under section 11 of this Act is in force.

(5) If the notice takes effect from the termination of an agreement under section 11 of this Act, it shall state that fact, and specify the rent payable, or last payable, under that agreement.

(6) If a notice is served under this section at a time when an agreement under section 11 of this Act is in force, and the date stated in the notice as that from which it is to take effect is—

(a) a date after service of the notice, and

(b) a date as at which the landlord could by notice served with the first-mentioned notice terminate the agreement,

the first-mentioned notice shall operate as a notice to terminate the agreement as at that date.

(7) Where a rent is registered for the dwelling-house at any time after notice is served, as from the date from which the registration takes effect the rent payable in accordance with the notice shall not exceed the weekly or other periodical equivalent of the amount of the rent so registered.

(8) If the rent payable in accordance with the notice exceeds the limit imposed by subsection (7) above, the amount of the excess shall be irrecoverable from the tenant.

(9) In this section—

(a) “rent based on rateable value” [F1 , where the dwelling-house had a rateable value on 31st March 1990,] means the weekly or other periodical equivalent of an annual amount equal to the prescribed multiple of the rateable value of the dwelling-house [F1 on that date], and

(b) the “prescribed multiple” is 1.5, or such other number (whole or with a fraction) as the Secretary of State may by order prescribe [F2 , and]

[F3 (c) “rent based on rateable value”, where the dwelling-house had no rateable value on 31st March 1990, means the weekly or other periodical equivalent of an annual amount equal to the rent at which it is estimated the dwelling-house might reasonably be expected to let from year to year if the tenant undertook to pay all usual tenant’s rates and taxes and to bear the cost of the repairs and insurance and the other expenses (if any) necessary to maintain the dwelling-house in a state to command that rent.]

(10) An order made under subsection (9) above—

(a) may contain such transitional and other supplemental and incidental provisions as appear to the Secretary of State expedient,

(b) may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order so made, and

(c) shall be contained in a statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(11) The date as at which the rateable value [F4 or the annual amount referred to in subsection (9)(c) above] is to be determined for the purposes of this section, and for the purposes of any agreement made under section 11 of this Act, shall be the date on which the notice is served, or as the case may be the date when the agreement was made [F4 , or, if that date is after 31st March 1990 and the dwelling-house had a rateable value on that date, 31st March 1990].

(12) If there is no separate rateable value for the dwelling-house [F5 on the date as at which the rateable value is to be determined for the purposes of this section] the rateable value shall be ascertained by a proper apportionment or aggregation of the rateable value or values of the relevant heriditaments; and until the rateable value is so ascertained references in this section to the amount of the rent based on rateable value shall be construed as references to the amount of the rent based on the landlord’s estimate of that value.

(13) Any question as to the proper apportionment or aggregation under subsection (12) above shall be determined by the county court, and the decision of the county court shall be final.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words inserted by S.I. 1990/434, reg. 2, Sch. para. 11(a)

F2 “, and” inserted by S.I. 1990/434, reg. 2, Sch. para. 11(b)

F3 S. 12(9)(c) inserted by S.I. 1990/434, reg. 2, Sch. para. 11(b)

F4 Words inserted by S.I. 1990/434, reg. 2, Sch. para. 12

F5 Words inserted by S.I. 1990/434, reg. 2, Sch. para. 13

13 Application for registration of rent. E+W

(1) There shall be a part of the register under Part IV of [F6 the M1 Rent Act 1977] in which rents may be registered for dwelling-houses which are subject to statutory tenancies (as defined in this Act).

(2) In relation to that part of the register the following provisions of [F6 the M2 Rent Act 1977], that is—

[F7 (a) sections 67 [F8 67A, 70 and 70A],

(b) section 71, except subsection (3), and

(c) Part I of Schedule 11,]

shall have effect as if for any reference in those provisions to a regulated tenancy there were substituted a reference to a statutory tenancy (as defined in this Act).

(3) The preceding provisions of this section shall not be taken as applying [F9 sections . . . F10 , 71(3), 72 or 73 of the M3 Rent Act 1977 . . . F11 ].

[F12 (4) The registration of a rent in the said part of the register takes effect—

(a) if the rent is determined by the rent officer, from the date when it is registered, and

(b) if the rent is determined by a rent assessment committee, from the date when the committee make their decision.

(5) If the rent for the time being registered in the said part of the register is confirmed, the confirmation takes effect—

(a) if it is made by the rent officer, from the date when it is noted in the register, and

(b) if it is made by a rent assessment committee, from the date when the committee make their decision.

(6) If (by virtue of section 67(4) of the M4 Rent Act 1977, as applied by subsection (2) above) an application for registration of a rent is made before the expiry of the period mentioned in section 67(3) and the resulting registration of a rent for the dwelling-house, or confirmation of the rent for the time being registered, would, but for this subsection, take effect before the expiry of that period it shall take effect on the expiry of that period.

(6A) The date from which the registration or confirmation of a rent takes effect shall be entered in the said part of the register.

(6B) As from the date on which the registration of a rent takes effect any previous registration of a rent for the dwelling-house ceases to have effect.]

(7) A rent registered in any part of the register for a dwelling-house which becomes, or ceases to be, one subject to a statutory tenancy shall be as effective as if it were registered in any other part of the register; but [F13 section 67(3) of the M5 Rent Act 1977] (no application for registration of a different rent to be made within [F14 two years] of the last registration) shall not apply to an application for the registration, as respects a dwelling-house which is subject to a statutory tenancy, of a rent different from one which is registered in a part of the register other than the part mentioned in subsection (1) above.

Textual Amendments

F6 Words substituted by Rent Act 1977 (c. 42), Sch. 23 para. 75(a)

F7 S. 13(2)(a)-(c) substituted by Rent Act 1977 (c. 42), Sch. 23 para. 75(b)

F8 Words in s. 13(2)(a) substituted (1.4.1993) by S.I. 1993/651, art. 2(2), Sch. 2 para. 1.

F9 Words substituted by Rent Act 1977 (c. 42), Sch. 23 para. 75(c)

F10 Figures repealed by Housing Act 1988 (c. 50, SIF 75:1), s. 140, Sch. 18

F11 Words repealed by Housing Act 1988 (c. 50, SIF 75:1), s. 140, Sch. 18

F12 S. 13(4)—(6)(6A)(6B) substituted with saving for s. 13(4)—(6) by Housing Act 1980 (c. 51), s. 61(2)(8)

F13 Words substituted by Rent Act 1977 (c. 42), Sch. 23 para. 75(e)

F14 Words substituted by Housing Act 1980 (c. 51), Sch. 25 para. 33(a)

Marginal Citations

M1 1977 c. 42.

M2 1977 c. 42.

M3 1977 c. 42.

M4 1977 c. 42.

M5 1977 c. 42.

14 Registered rents. E+W

(1) This section applies where a rent is registered for a dwelling-house subject to a statutory tenancy.

(2) If the rent payable for any period of the statutory tenancy beginning on or after the date of registration would be less than the registered rent, it may be increased up to the amount of that rent by a notice of increase served by the landlord on the tenant.

(3) The notice shall specify the amount of the registered rent, and the date from which the notice is to take effect, which shall not be earlier than four weeks before service of the notice, and not at a time when an agreement under section 11 of this Act is in force.

(4) If the notice takes effect from the termination of an agreement under section 11 of this Act, it shall state that fact, and specify the rent payable, or last payable, under that agreement.

(5) If a notice is served under this section at a time when an agreement under section 11 of this Act is in force, and the date stated in the notice as that from which it is to take effect is—

(a) a date after service of the notice, and

(b) a date as at which the landlord could by notice served with the first-mentioned notice terminate the agreement,

the first-mentioned notice shall operate as a notice to terminate the agreement as at that date.

15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15 E+W

Textual Amendments

F15 S. 15 repealed with saving by S.I. 1987/264, arts. 2(2)(a), 3, Sch. 2

16 Notices of increase. E+W

(1) Any reference in the following provisions of this section to a notice is a reference to a notice of increase under section 12 or section 14 of this Act.

(2) Notwithstanding that a notice relates to periods of a statutory tenancy it may be served before the statutory tenancy begins.

(3) Where a notice is served before the statutory tenancy begins, and the protected occupancy could, by a notice to quit served at the same time, be brought to an end before the date specified in the notice of increase, the notice shall operate to terminate the protected occupancy as from that date.

(4) If the county court is satisfied that any error or omission in a notice is due to a bona fide mistake on the part of the landlord, the court may by order amend the notice by correcting any errors or supplying any omission therein which, if not corrected or supplied, would render the notice invalid and if the court so directs, the notice as so amended shall have effect and be deemed to have had effect as a valid notice.

(5) If [F16 , in a case to which section 12(12) applies] the county court is satisfied that—

(a) [F17 on 31st March 1990] there was no separate rateable value for the dwelling-house, and

(b) the amount specified in the notice is the amount of the rent based on the landlord’s estimate of the rateable value,

the court may by order amend the notice by substituting for the amount so specified the amount of the rent based on rateable value and, if the court so directs, the notice shall have effect and be deemed to have had effect as so amended.

(6) Any amendment of a notice under subsection (4) or (5) above may be made on such terms and conditions with respect to arrears of rent or otherwise as appear to the court to be just and reasonable.

(7) No increase of rent which becomes payable by reason of an amendment of a notice under subsection (4) or (5) above shall be recoverable in respect of any period of the statutory tenancy which ended more than six months before the date of the order making the amendment.

Textual Amendments

F16 Words inserted by S.I. 1990/434, reg. 2, Sch. para. 14

F17 Words substituted by S.I. 1990/434, reg. 2, Sch. para. 14