Agenda item

2020/21 Housing Rents & Service Charges

Decision:

(a)  That Council house dwelling rents for 2020/21 increase by 2.7% (CPI + 1%) over the 2019/20 rent with effect from Monday 6th April 2020. This was in line with current government guidelines and legislation.

 

(b)  That garage rents, heating, utility and ancillary charges increase by 1.7% with effect from Monday 6th April 2020. This was based upon the September CPI figure.

 

(c)  That service charges increase by 1.7% with effect from Monday 6th April 2020. This was based upon the September CPI figure.

 

(d)  That ‘Other committee’ property rents increase by an average of 1.7% from Monday 6th April 2020 in line with the September CPI figure.

 

(e)  That properties leased from James Elliman Homes increase by an average of 1.7% from Monday 6th April 2020 in line with the September CPI figure.

 

(f)  That DISH property rents increase by 2.7 % (CPI + 1%) over the 2019/20 rent with effect from Monday 6th April 2020. This was as per the Council’s recommendation to the DISH Board.

Minutes:

The Service Lead Finance introduced a report that presented the changes in housing rents and service charges for 2020/21 for social housing and asked that they be recommended to full Council.

 

Social housing rents had been reduced by 1% a year for the past four years in line with Government policy but from April 2020 national policy was to increase rents by Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) plus 1% per annum for at least five years.  The CPI figure in September 2019 was 1.7% and the recommendations set out the proposed increases for Council house dwelling and garage rents, service charges and other rents such as properties leased from the Council owned James Elliman Homes and DISH properties.  The impact of the changes would be to increase the estimated average weekly rent from £102.57 in 2019/20 to £105.34 in 2020/21.  This represented an average rise of £2.77 per week from 6th April 2020. 

 

The Cabinet asked about the impact the rent reductions had had on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).  The 1% decrease was estimated to have cost circa £0.3m per year.  The HRA 30-year business plan had been updated to reflect the new rent regime and rental income was estimated to increase by £0.82m to £32.7m in 2020/21.

 

The rent proposals had been considered and noted by the Neighbourhoods & Community Services Scrutiny Panel on 14th January 2020.

 

At the conclusion of the discussion it was agreed to recommend the proposed changes to rents and service charges to full Council on 28th January 2020.

 

Recommended –

 

(a)  That Council house dwelling rents for 2020/21 increase by 2.7% (CPI + 1%) over the 2019/20 rent with effect from Monday 6th April 2020. This was in line with current government guidelines and legislation.

 

(b)  That garage rents, heating, utility and ancillary charges increase by 1.7% with effect from Monday 6th April 2020. This was based upon the September CPI figure.

 

(c)  That service charges increase by 1.7% with effect from Monday 6th April 2020. This was based upon the September CPI figure.

 

(d)  That ‘Other committee’ property rents increase by an average of 1.7% from Monday 6th April 2020 in line with the September CPI figure.

 

(e)  That properties leased from James Elliman Homes increase by an average of 1.7% from Monday 6th April 2020 in line with the September CPI figure.

 

(f)  That DISH property rents increase by 2.7 % (CPI + 1%) over the 2019/20 rent with effect from Monday 6th April 2020. This was as per the Council’s recommendation to the DISH Board.

Supporting documents: