Council House Rents... here we go again!

[Taf]

A close friend of mine has legal access to council documents through his work with tenants associations warned me a little while ago that something nasty was being prepared to be unleashed upon council house tenants.

Council rents are allowed to rise to follow private rents as they spiral upwards due to "buy to rent" landlords... but the increase ammount is capped annually.

Someone realised that under the guise of "fairness" these caps on increases could be bypassed easily.

Today a letter from the council says that to "address unfair rent levels" they are "consulting" with council house tenants as to how rents should be made "fairer".

They anticipate rent rises of £3, £5 or £7 per week in the first year alone but this is open to "consultation".  And those rises would be in addition to the annual inflation/chase private rent rates increases!

The documents my friend has seen show a model which will increase all but a tiny fraction of rents by the £7 per week figure no matter what tenants perceive as a fair level.

The model has decided that flats should cost less than houses, and the number of bedrooms increases the rent again. Then locality should also add more (NB not decrease) to the rent level. Garden size, off road parking, etc. will also increase the rent. Also local amenities like schools, libraries, parks, doctors and hospitals.

But flats already have an add-on charge for "communal cleaning, grounds maintenance, communal lighting, security equipment, etc.... all of which they now say are separate to the rent so should not get Housing Benefit help if tenants qualify.

Add to this the council's new power to deny "Right to Buy" and it looks like they are trying to force rents to the point where private renting becomes financially preferable for many. And it also looks like a way to financially force tenants to move from homes they no longer fill to capacity as their children leave home.

The model also remarks that it can easily be applied accross the country with a couple of years, and that other councils are "bound to take up the system as it will make major contributions to their cashflow"... in other words it is going to rake in more money.

In principal I see the idea as fairly sound, but I see it as a cashcow in this model they are following.

"Affordable low rent homes" ?

It seems that is to become a thing of the past.......

[Lisa]

right to buy is still an option, we're looking at doing it.

fair rent has already been in place here, we pay more than our neighbour who has an identical house and thiers will raise to reach ours.

[Taf]

Be quick about RTB... many areas are declaring themselves as having low stock of social housing... and that means they can cancel any RTB paperwork right up to the day contracts are exchanged.

My friend called to ask if I had received the letter... he says many people have been contacting him about it... and he also found out that for some 1 bedroom flats the £7 increase per week can be applied for at least 10 years at present rates, whilst 3 bedroom houses are looking at a MINIMUM of 16 years' increases!!!

 

[sabell]

Bet it is still cheaper than my bloody Mortgage though!