Valuation Office Agency (VOA)

Introducing Valuation Office Agency Rent Officers

A Valuation Office Agency (VOA) Rent Officer assesses and determines fair rents for residential properties with a regulated tenancy. They provide impartial valuations for housing benefit purposes, ensure consistency in rent assessments and collect and maintain accurate rental data to support government housing and welfare policies. 

Who are we?

We are a national team of over 100 statutory rent officers, independent and impartial.

What do we do?

Rent Officers have 3 primary functions:

• Housing Benefit valuations (for those exempt from Universal Credit)
• Fair Rent Valuations
• Lettings Information Collection which:
  • Provides comparable data for valuations
  • Is used to produce Price Index of Private Rentals 
  • Used to calculate all three measures of consumer price inflation:  
  • Provides comparable data for valuations
  • Is used to produce Price Index of Private Rentals 
  • Used to calculate all three measures of consumer price inflation:  

• the Consumer Price Index (CPI)  
• the Consumer Prices Index including housing costs (CPIH)
• the Retail Price Index (RPI). 
• Provides Department of Work and Pensions with annual LHA percentile figures
• Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates applicable from April 2025 to March 2026 – GOV.UK

Due to the national nature of our role, we aim to collect data from:

• a range of sources, from individual landlords with a single property, to agents with large portfolios 

• a range of property types and sizes, from single rooms to large, detached houses 

• a variety of tenancies (including new, renewal and periodic tenancies)  

• across every area in England.

What about Privacy?

The VOA will only use information in the way described in our Rent Officer Functions privacy notice  and following data protection law. 

We will not share information with anyone unless it is lawful to do so.