Section 63: Schemes for appointment of rent officers., Rent Act 1977

The Secretary of State shall for every registration area make, after consultation with the local authority, a scheme providing for the appointment by the proper officer of the local authority—

of such number of rent officers for the area as may be determined by or in accordance with the scheme, . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A scheme under this section—

shall provide for the payment by the local authority to rent officers . . . of remuneration and allowances in accordance with scales approved by the Secretary of State . . .;

shall prohibit the dismissal of a rent officer . . . except by the proper officer of the local authority on the direction, or with the consent, of the Secretary of State;

shall require the local authority to provide for the rent officers office accommodation and clerical and other assistance;

shall allocate, or confer on the proper officer of the local authority the duty of allocating, work as between the rent officers and shall confer on the proper officer the duty of supervising the conduct of rent officers . . . ; . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A scheme under this section may make all or any of the following provisions—

provision requiring the consent of the Secretary of State to the appointment of rent officers;

provision with respect to the appointment of rent officers for fixed periods;

provision for the proper officer of the local authority, in such circumstances and subject to such conditions (as to consent or otherwise) as may be specified in the scheme,—

to designate a person appointed or to be appointed a rent officer as chief rent officer and to designate one or more such persons as senior rent officers;

to delegate to a person so designated as chief rent officer such functions as may be specified in the scheme; and

to revoke a designation under sub-paragraph (i) above and to revoke or vary a delegation under sub-paragraph (ii) above;

provision with respect to the delegation of functions by a chief rent officer to other rent officers (whether designated as senior rent officers or not);

provision as to the circumstances in which and the terms on which a rent officer appointed by the scheme may undertake functions outside the area to which the scheme relates in accordance with paragraph (f) below;

provision under which a rent officer appointed for an area other than that to which the scheme relates may undertake functions in the area to which the scheme relates and for such a rent officer to be treated for such purposes as may be specified in the scheme (which may include the purposes of paragraphs (c) and (d) above and paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (2) above) as if he were a rent officer appointed under the scheme; and

provision conferring functions on the proper officer of a local authority with respect to the matters referred to in paragraphs (d) to (f) above.

For the purposes of any local Act scheme, within the meaning of section 8 of the Superannuation Act 1972, rent officers . . . appointed in pursuance of a scheme under this section shall be deemed to be officers in the employment of the local authority for whose area the scheme is made; and for the purposes of—

Part III of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, and

the Social Security Act 1975,

they shall be deemed to be in that employment under a contract of service.

In this Part "the rent officer" means–

in relation to any area not specified in an order made under section 64B of this Act, any rent officer appointed for the area who is authorised to act in accordance with a scheme under this section;

in relation to any area or areas so specified, any rent officer appointed by the Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs .

A scheme under this section may be varied or revoked by a subsequent scheme made thereunder.

The Secretary of State shall, in respect of each financial year, make to any local authority incurring expenditure which is of a kind mentioned in subsection (7) below, a grant equal to that expenditure.

The expenditure mentioned in subsection (6) above is any expenditure—

attributable to this section or an order under section 122 of the Housing Act 1996, or

incurred in respect of pensions, allowances or gratuities payable to or in respect of rent officers . . . (appointed in pursuance of a scheme under this section) by virtue of regulations under section 7 or section 24 of the Superannuation Act 1972 or

incurred in respect of increases of pensions payable to or in respect of rent officers (so appointed) by virtue of the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971.

Any expenditure incurred by the Secretary of State by virtue of subsection (6) above shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament.

In the case of a registration area in respect of which there is more than one local authority, this section shall apply as if—

the first reference to "the local authority" in subsection (1) were a reference to each of those local authorities which is—

the county council for a county in England; or

the council for a district in England which is not in a county having a county council; and

the second reference to "the local authority" in that subsection, the references to "the local authority" in subsections (2) and (2A)(c), the reference to "a local authority" in subsection (2A)(g) and the reference to "the local authority for whose area the scheme is made" in subsection (3) were references to such one of those authorities as has been designated by the scheme

Section 63: Schemes for appointment of rent officers.

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