Rents for council homes are set to rise

Rotherham Council’s cabinet committee voted to increase rents by an average of £6.02 a week, when collected over 48 weeks, giving an average council house rent of £69.63 per week.

In the papers that went before yesterday’s cabinet committee meeting, housing officers at the authority say that the council has previously “sought to restrain annual charge increases” as the “financial climate for many people living in Rotherham is extremely challenging.”

The report goes on to say that, for the last 10 years, the Government has required councils to use a prescribed formula to calculate housing rent and this formula, for the 2012/13 financial year, results in the increase of 9.45 per cent.

It adds that the increase could mean that “rent income may fall and arrears may rise” which would then “affect the amount of income received.”

The rent increase now needs to be rubber-stamped at a full council meeting on February 1.

The increases in Rotherham are set to be above those in neighbouring Sheffield, which is planning an average rent rise of 7.8 per cent from April this year.

The rent rise, which is set to be agreed at a cabinet meeting next week, is equivalent to an average weekly rent rise of £4.87.

Coun Harry Harpham, Sheffield Council’s cabinet member for homes and regeneration, said: “Rent increases continue to be dictated by Government.

“But we do realise that budgets are tight at the moment, and what we can confirm is that we have frozen charges wherever possible to ease the burden.

“There will be no increase in charges for community heating.”

Tenants and residents’ associations in Sheffield will be consulted on the proposed rent increases at a meeting of the “City Wide Forum” today.