Catalogue description Records of Rent Tribunals, Rent Assessment Panels and Rent Officers

Rent tribunals were established in a number of local areas under the Furnished Houses (Rent Control) Act 1946 to determine, in cases referred to them, reasonable rents for furnished premises, and to consider applications for the extension of the period of security of tenure granted under the act. Their members were appointed by the Minister of Health and later by the Minister of Housing and Local Government.

Local authorities were responsible for keeping a register of tribunal decisions. The powers of the tribunals were extended to cover unfurnished premises by acts of 1949 and 1954, but the Rent Act of 1957 again restricted their jurisdiction to furnished dwellings. The same act also limited their powers to property below a certain rateable value, but the level of this rateable value was greatly increased by the Rent Acts of 1965 and 1968.

The Rent Act 1965 reintroduced rent control of unfurnished dwellings through independent rent officers who determined and registered fair rents. Appeals against such rents were referred to Rent Assessment Committees drawn from panels of people appointed by the Minister of Housing and Local Government and, in some cases, the Lord Chancellor.

The panels accorded approximately to local authority areas, although the panel areas would vary to take account of work levels. For instance a panel with a low work load might well take in some of the area of an adjoining panel with a very high work load.