Agenda item

(a)  Council house dwelling rents for 2019/20 to decrease by 1% over the 2018/19 rent with effect from Monday 1st April 2019. This is in line with current government guidelines and legislation.

(b)  Garage rents, heating, utility and ancillary charges to increase by 2.4% with effect from Monday 1st April 2019. This is based upon the September CPI figure.

(c)  Service charges to increase by 2.4% with effect from Monday 1st April 2019. This is based upon the September CPI figure.

(d)  ‘Other committee’ property rents to increase by 2.4% from Monday 1st April 2019 in line with the September CPI figure.

(e)  Properties leased from James Elliman Homes to increase by 2.4% from Monday 1st April 2019 in line with the September CPI figure; currently, these are Pendeen Court and 81-83 High Street used as emergency and temporary accommodation for homeless households.

The Head of Finance (Transformation) introduced a report that presented the changes in housing rents and service charges for 2019/20 for social housing and asked that they be recommended to full Council on 29^th January 2019.

It was proposed that Council house dwelling rents would decrease by 1% from Monday 1^st April 2019 and that garage rents, heat, utility, ancillary charges and service charges rise by 2.4% based on the September CPI inflation figure.  The Cabinet noted that the decrease was in line with the legislative requirement that social rents be reduced by 1% less than the amount payable by the tenant in the preceding 12 months each year.  This was the final year for which this policy would apply and the Government had indicated that from 2020 a greater degree of discretion would be given back to local authorities which would help them to invest in repairs and stabilise the decline in rental income.

It was confirmed that rents for Development Initiative for Slough Housing properties would be realigned and rent reductions and would be backdated to 2016/17.

Councillor Strutton addressed the Cabinet under Rule 30 and asked what was being done to ensure that tenants received good value from the increased service and other charges.  The Leader commented that the rises were in line with inflation and the Council was committed to seek to deliver good value for money to tenants.  The Lead Member for Corporate Finance & Housing would investigate any particular trends or patterns relating to housing complaints and address any issues that were raised.

After due consideration, the Cabinet agreed to recommend the proposed rent and service charges to full Council.

Recommended –

(a)  Council house dwelling rents for 2019/20 to decrease by 1% over the 2018/19 rent with effect from Monday 1st April 2019. This was in line with current government guidelines and legislation.

(b)  Garage rents, heating, utility and ancillary charges to increase by 2.4% with effect from Monday 1st April 2019. This was based upon the September CPI figure.

(c)  Service charges to increase by 2.4% with effect from Monday 1st April 2019. This was based upon the September CPI figure.

(d)  ‘Other committee’ property rents to increase by 2.4% from Monday 1st April 2019 in line with the September CPI figure.

(e)  Properties leased from James Elliman Homes to increase by 2.4% from Monday 1st April 2019 in line with the September CPI figure; currently, these were Pendeen Court and 81-83 High Street used as emergency and temporary accommodation for homeless households.