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This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Rent panel appointments

22/12/2003

The appointment of a new President and Vice President, to the Rent Assessment Panel for Scotland, were announced today.

A further new member was appointed as a Chairperson for the Edinburgh area. In addition ten existing members including; two Chairpersons, two surveyors and six lay persons, were appointed.

Communities Minister Margaret Curran made the announcement detailed below:

President

Isabel Montgomery has served as a Chairperson on Rent Assessment Committees since 1999. She is a solicitor with over twenty years court and tribunal experience.

Vice President

Jane Irvine has been a surveyor member of the Panel since 1997, and has extensive experience of arbitration work. She also has a degree in law and is a Lay Inspector of Her Majesty's Constabulary.

Chairperson (Edinburgh Area)

Anne McCamley is a solicitor with Fife Council and has considerable experience of Court and tribunal hearing procedures. She also holds a part-time judicial appointment with the Appeals Service.

The re-appointed members are:

Miss Carole Cooper and Mrs Jacqui Taylor are re-appointed for a further term as Lawyer/Chairperson.

Mr Kenneth Barclay and Mr Donald Marshall are re-appointed for a further term as surveyor members.

Mrs Christine Anderson, Mrs Tanveer Ahmed, Mr John Blackwood, Mr Michael Innes, Mrs Irene Kitson, and Mr James Riach are all re-appointed for a further term as lay members.

All appointments and re-appointments are made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointment's Code of Practice.

All the new appointments are for a three year period effective from January 1, 2004 until December 31, 2006. The ten re-appointments are for the period October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2006. There is no recorded political activity over the last five years in respect of any of the appointees.

The President and Vice President receive renumeration of £12,700 and £5,984 per year, respectively. The daily fees paid to members are Chairmen (£282), Surveyors (£226) and lay members (£145).

The Rent Assessment panel was established under the Rent Act 1965. Its purpose is to supply members for Rent Assessment Committees, which, in turn, have two main functions.

a. to consider appeals by landlords or tenants against decisions by
Rent Officers in setting fair rents for regulated tenancies in the private sector (in general these are tenancies started before January 2, 1989);

b. to assess the market rent for assured or short assured tenancies
created under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988, when the landlord and tenant cannot agree on appropriate rent.

The Committees are constituted ad hoc from the Panel and normally consist of a lawyer who acts as the Chairman, a professional member (who is a qualified surveyor), and a lay member.

The Panel membership consist of approximately equal groups of lawyers, professionals and lay members and must be sufficiently widespread geographically to allow committee sittings to be held throughout Scotland.

The scale of the membership is not prescribed but is related to the workload. At present there are 31 members, including the President and Vice-President. Members are usually appointed for three years and are paid fees, plus travel and subsistence expenses for attending Committee sittings.

Page updated: Wednesday, July 21, 2004