Agenda item

Housing Rents and Service Charges

Decision:

*RESOLVED –

1. That for the financial year 2024/25, individual social rents for current general needs tenants be set based on the current national social rent policy, giving a rent increase of 7.7% with effect from 1 April 2024.

2. That for the financial year 2024/25 and onwards, where a social rent property is re-let to a new or transferring tenant the rent level be increased to the target rent for that property.

3. That for the financial year 2024/25, individual affordable rents be set based on the current national social rent policy giving a rent increase of 7.7% with effect from 1 April 2024.

4. That for the financial year 2024/25 and onwards, where an affordable rent property is re-let to a new or transferring tenant the rent level be set by reference to 80% of the market rent (including service charges where applicable) for a similar property at the time of letting, or the formula rent for the property, whichever is greater.

5. That the Housing Revenue Account Service Charges for the financial year 2024/25, as set out in Appendix 1 of the officer’s report, be approved.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS

1. To enable the Council to set the level of council house rents for the financial year 2024/25 in accordance with Government guidelines and the Rent Standard.

2. To enable the Council to set the level of service charges for the financial year 2024/25 to recover the costs of providing these services to tenants.

3. To contribute to the Council’s corporate priority to ‘improve the quality of life for local people’.

Minutes:

The Service Director – Housing presented a report seeking approval to set housing rents and service charge levels for the financial year 2024/25.

Social rents were set according to the Government’s National Social Rent Policy and the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016. In accordance with the Government’s National Social Rent Policy, which came into effect on 1April 2020, it was permissible for the Council to increase rents by up to CPI plus 1% per annum, until 1 April 2024. The basis for the annual rent increase was the previous September’s Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) which in 2023 was 6.7%, meaning the maximum by which the Council could increase tenants’ rents from 1 April 2024 would be 7.7%.

It was therefore recommended that for the financial year 2024/25 all rents (social and affordable) would increase by 7.7%. This would result in an average social rent in 2024/25 of £95.95 per week and an average affordable rent of £108.88 per week.

Details of the proposed increases to heating charges, garage rents, garage site rents, garden assistance scheme charges, water charges, community room charges and charges for warden services were set out in Appendix 1 of the officer’s report. The increases were set at rates to ensure that the Council could recover the costs of providing the services.

A 7.7% increase in general needs rents (social and affordable) in a 53-week rent year would result in an additional £3.974 million of income in 2024/25 as compared to that achieved in 2023/24.