Council House Rents

Rotherham Borough councillors agreed on Wednesday to the increase after hearing that the Government's prescribed formula for calculating council house rents resulted in an increase of 8.69%.

This equates to an average increase of £5.08 per week.

Cllr Jahangir Akhtar, the Council's Cabinet Member for Safe and Attractive Neighbourhoods, explained that the authority had little choice but to increase its rents.

He said: "Rotherham Borough Council has long been committed to helping local people to live in good quality affordable housing.  In the past the authority has been able to ensure that the rents it charges its tenants are amongst the lowest in the country.

"However, this year, budgets nationwide are under considerable pressure and the new coalition Government has determined that under the process local authorities have to use to determine annual rent increases,  Rotherham must make an average rent increase of 8.69 per cent. Last year's increase was initially similar to this one but we successfully lobbied the previous Labour government to reduce the size of the increase.

Cllr Akhtar pointed out the change will not affect those residents whose rent is paid through Housing Benefit payments and that it still compares well to other authorities.

He added: "Although the rents are still among the cheapest in the country and half the cost of rents in the private sector, I deeply regret that the authority has been placed in the position of increasing rents to this level. Unfortunately, we are being forced to take this action by the government.

"The Council's ability to move from this level of change is extremely limited as every one per cent reduction, whilst resulting in a saving of 48 pence to tenants, would mean a loss of income totalling £540,000 every year.

"Any such move away from the Government's formula would penalise Rotherham and mean a drastic cut in the level of service for tenants. I know from the volume of correspondence that the Council receives that  the vast majority of tenants would find this unacceptable.

"We have been fortunate to be able to spend over £300 million improving our council houses during the last five years and we are determined that we will continue to offer the high quality of housing and services that our tenants expect at a price that compares well with other authorities and other forms of housing."