The rent service is an independent government organisation. One of their main roles is to carry out rental valuations for Housing Benefit purposes to determine whether benefit customers are being asked to pay more rent than a landlord might reasonably expect on the open market.

When a claim is received for privately rented accommodation, we are required to refer it to the rent service. When making a determination, the rent service will consider the total rent for the property, any services included in the rent (such as water rates, heating, lighting, fuel for cooking, which will be deducted as they cannot be covered by Housing Benefit), size of the property, age and number of occupants.

The rent service will then compare the rent to other similar sized properties in the local area and make a decision based on all the factors, already mentioned. The net figure is the amount upon which the Housing Benefit assessment is based. It would therefore be your tenant's responsibility to make up any shortfall.