Council tenants face 6.8% rent increase

Council rents are set to rise by 6.8 per cent from April 2011 which is more than inflation.

The figure emerged in the housing revenue account draft subsidy settlement for 2011/12, released by the Communities and Local Government department.

The guideline council rent increase for next year is 6.8 per cent, while maintenance allowance for local authorities will increase by just 1.9 per cent.

It is a higher increase than the 6.2 per cent rise originally proposed for 2009/10, which caused such a storm the government stepped in to reduce it.

The rent increase is calculated by applying the retail price index inflation from the previous September (4.6 per cent), plus a convergence factor reflecting the number of years until rents reach the target level set by government (five years).

This increase is council rent are expected to hit council tenants hard due to a decrease in state benefit and increases in essential livings cost such as gas and electricity. Working tenants will be hit hardest and will have to dip deeper into their pockets at a time when people are struggling to stay in a job it is an extra stress. Already this is a concern that rent arrears and evictions will increase over the forthcoming year as a result.

Comments

Tough luck for housing benefit tenants

karens04

Monday 22 November 2010 8:00:47 pm

People are already stretched.

Remember you need to earn more to raise the funds to pay the extra cost - in this case a proportioned 8% increase in income is needed to fund the extra rent!!!

Yet people face salary freezes, cuts and unemployment not pay rises, plus other costs, such as heating, lighting, transport, food, clothing are all increasing at a rate higher than inflation.

How do councils get away with it?

TheGeneral

Monday 22 November 2010 7:37:10 pm

When everyone is being frugal , they up it by 100% moren than inflation ! Marvelous!