Rents

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing the average level of (a) local authority rents, (b) fair rents registered for unfurnished housing association lettings, (c) fair rents registered for other unfurnished lettings and (d) fair rents registered for all unfurnished lettings in England in each of

(b) Fair rents¹ (£ per week)
	Unfurnished housing association tenancies £	Other unfurnished tenancies² £	All unfurnished tenancies £	Retail prices index United Kingdom April percentage increase
				over year	since 1979
1979	10·69	9·25	9·79	—	—
1980	12·54	10·79	11·46	22	22
1981	13·98	12·40	13·02	12	36
1982	15·63	14·06	14·75	9	49
1983	17·19	14·85	15·92	4	55
1984	18·69	16·71	17·67	5	63
1985	19·75	17·44	18·58	7	75
1986	21·44	19·85	20·69	3	80
1987	22·87	20·60	21·81	4	87
¹ Service charges, if any, are included.
² Registered rents for private regulated tenancies only.

The mix of properties for which rents are registered varies from year to year for a number of reasons: for example, extension of decontrol in 1981; the reduction from 3 to 2 years in the minimum period for re-registration which led to re-registrations in 1983 of rents previously registered in 1980 and 1981. Therefore, comparison of averages for consecutive years do not properly reflect rent

the years from 1979 to 1987, indicating the percentage increase in each on an annual cumulative basis; and how these increases compare with the movement of the retail prices index over that same period.

The figures on local authority rents, the average rents registered by rent officers and the movements in the retail price index from 1979 to 1987 are as follows:

(a) Average weekly unrebated rents at April for local authority dwellings
	Average rent £	Percentage increase
		over year
1979	6·41	—	—
1980	7·70	20	20
1981	11·42	48	78
1982	13·48	18	110
1983	13·97	4	118
1984	14·66	5	129
1985	15·54	6	142
1986	16·36	5	155
1987	17·20	5	168

movements. Better estimates of rent movements are derived from previous and new registered rents for tenancies where there has been no material change in terms or in the physical condition. For properties with rents fixed in 1979, 1982, 1984 and 1986, the estimated percentage increases are:

	Unfurnished Housing Association Tenancies		Other Unfurnished Tenancies		All Unfurnished Tenancies
	per cent. increase in period	per cent. increase annualised	per cent. increase in period	per cent. increase annualised	per cent. increase in period	per cent. increase annualised
1979–82	48	14	50	14	49	14
1982–84	18	9	19	9	18	9
1984–86	15	7	17	8	16	8

The estimated annualised increases for properties with rents fixed in 1987 were 8 per cent. 9 per cent. and 9 per cent. respectively for unfurnished housing association tenancies, other unfurnished tenancies and all unfurnished tenancies.

Volume 136: debated on Monday 27 June 1988