Local Reference Rents (LRRs)
LRRs are published monthly in the following link:
Please note that the published LRRs are weekly figures.
The VOA is working to be as open as possible about its decision making processes. The LRR table shows information about local reference rent (LRR) levels in use at the end of March 2010.
Please read the Information to note section below before using the LRR tables.
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Background
Local Reference Rents (LRRs)
Information to note
Background
Local authority Housing Benefit (HB) departments are required to refer claims for HB from tenants living in the private rented sector to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) every 12 months.
The rent officers employed by the VOA carry out a series of determinations in every individual case that is referred by a local authority.
More information about the determinations that rent officers must make in each case is available in our leaflet The Valuation Office Agency and Housing Benefit.
LRRs
The LRR determination is provided for all HB claims.
The LRR is the mid-point between what in the rent officer’s opinion are the highest (‘H’) and lowest (‘L’) non-exceptional rents in a given locality.
There is a full definition of locality in the regulations. In summary, the locality is an area of at least two neighbourhoods within which the tenant might reasonably expected to live, having regard to the accessibility of various facilities and services, and containing a mix of residential premises and variety of different tenancies.
Rent officers use a framework of generally agreed localities. In the interests of fair and consistent decision-making, rent officers also meet regularly to discuss and agree the H and L points in the range for LRRs in each of generally-agreed locality. These discussions generate the agreed LRR levels shown in the table.
Rent officers are required to make an LRR determination for properties based on the number of “rooms suitable for living in” (i.e living rooms and bedrooms, not bathrooms and kitchens)
The table show LRRs for properties for 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 rooms. They also show the three LRR categories for one room properties, which rent officers call 1A, 1B and 1C. The tables provide an indication of rent officer decision-making during the previous quarter of the year.
The “single room rent” (SRR) is not an LRR but a separate determination made by rent officers under the law for single claimants under 25 with no partner or children living with them. It is based on one room accommodation with a shared living room, kitchen and toilet and without any food or fuel bills included.
Information to note
Users of the tables should note the following provisos:
- An LRR determination does not exist until it is applied to an individual specific case. The figures in the tables are simply the figures agreed generally in discussions by rent officers and form the basis of the their LRR determinations. They have no legal status;
- The LRR has no bearing on the HB entitlement of a great many claimants in the private rented sector. Many claimants will be affected instead by one of the other determinations that rent officers must make.
- The VOA seeks to ensure that the information published in the tables below and elsewhere on its website is up-to date and accurate as at the date shown. However, none of the information on our website constitutes professional advice;
- The information in the LRR tables below and elsewhere on this website provides a general guide. It does not constitute any predictor or guaranteed indicator of how much HB entitlement a claimant is likely to receive. Nor does the information provide any guaranteed indicator of the condition of or trends in the private rental market. The VOA does not accept any liability for actions or judgments that HB claimants or others take arising from their use of the tables below;
- The information and publications on this website are subject to Crown Copyright. Material may be reproduced without formal permission or charge for personal or in-house use only.
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