for Rent Act protection were not changed for Scotland. Assimilation of furnished tenancies 1974 Three important Acts were passed in the next two years. The Rent Act 1974 brought full protection to those existing furnished lettings where the landlord was not resident in the same premises. Previously they had had only limited protection under the 1943, 1946 and 1949 Acts. The concept of "resident landlord" was entirely new. For all new tenancies created on or after 14 August 1974, whether furnished or unfurnished, the factor to decide their protection was to be the residency or non-residency of the landlord. The Housing Act 1974 gave many private tenants the right to additional information as to the identity of their landlord, and there was also a new duty to inform a tenant of a dwelling of the assignment of a landlord's interest. It extended the right to information about service charges and introduced the right to challenge them. The form and content of certain notices to quit was to be prescribed by regulations to be made by the Secretary of State and the improvement grant system was re-vamped. Housing action areas, general improvement areas and priority neighbourhoods were introduced. Grants for the provision of standard amenities, improvements (which were compulsory in some cases) and for the repair of dwellings were introduced. The Act also extended the powers of the Housing Corporation with regard to housing associations and amended the system of providing financial assistance to them. Phasing 1975 The Housing Rents and Subsidies Act 1975 repealed the provisions of the Housing Finance Act 1972 in relation to public sector dwellings and by and large gave local authorities a free hand in determining their rent policies. The gradual decontrol process based on rateable values was stopped, and a system of phased rent increases was introduced for all tenancies. Apart from the temporary provisions in the counter-inflation legislation in 1972 and 1973, mentioned earlier, there had been previously no phasing of increases of rent following re-registration of a fair rent. These phasing arrangements required a careful scrutiny of the cost of providing services and assessment of the value of services. The Social Security (Consequential Provisions) Act 1992 required the amount attributable to services to be noted on the Rent Register to assist the assessment of housing benefit. New amenities or improvements to a locality that were not provided at the landlords expense were to