Officers, to cut costs, were discouraged from inspecting premises before making a valuation, inspections were made whenever resources were available and certainly where the property was unknown to them or where the amount of rent being paid seemed unreasonable for the known accommodation. Many fraudulent claims were discovered as a result of these inspections. The Secretary of State was given powers to require Rent Officers to carry out these functions by Statutory Instrument. These have proved much easier to produce and amend to promote efficient working arrangements (rather than the longer timetable required to produce Acts of Parliament). The original Order and an amendment were made in 1989. The main Order was The Rent Officers (Additional Functions) Order 1990 (S.I. 1990 No. 428), which established procedures by which a Rent Officer, upon receipt of an application from a local authority, was required to determine whether the rent payable under an assured tenancy by a housing benefit claimant, was significantly above the market rent. The availability of housing benefit was to be disregarded and an informal definition was to ask what rent someone not claiming housing benefit would be willing to pay from their own pocket for the accommodation. Tight timetables to be achieved in returning decisions (within four days or seven days where an inspection was necessary) so as not to create delays in payment of benefit during this additional process. The Rent Officer was also required to determine whether the dwelling exceeded the size criteria set out in the order, which included consideration of the size of the household and the ages of its members. If the dwelling did exceed the criteria, the Rent Officer must determine a rent that accords with the size criteria for the occupiers. There were provisions for a re-determination at the request of the local authority. The matter was to be dealt with by a maximum of two Rent Officers from adjoining registration areas who were to be advised by a Rent Officer from the original registration area (but not the person who made the original decision). Further amendments were introduced by The Rent Officer (Additional Functions) (Amendment) Orders of 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1995 amongst which there was a requirement to decide whether the rent payable was exceptionally high for the size of that accommodation in that locality. lf it was, then the Rent Officer was required to determine a market rent that