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Angus Council tenants face 6.7% rent rise for 2024/25

The proposed hike will take the average weekly Angus Council house rent above £80 for the first time.

Angus Council homes at Viewmount in Forfar. Image:  Paul Reid
Angus Council homes at Viewmount in Forfar. Image: Paul Reid

Angus Council tenants face a 6.7% rent rise under proposals due to go before councillors next week.

If approved, it will take the average weekly council house rent through the £80 barrier for the first time.

The average would increase to £80.75, up £4.84 per week from the 2023/24 figure of £75.91.

Rents would range from £57.15 weekly for a bedsit flat to £138.42 for a seven-bed new-build house.

Angus would still have one of the lowest average rents in the country.

Council officials say the level of increase is required to help the authority look after and improve its stock of 7,800 homes.

Lowest option

A 6.7% increase was the lowest of four options put to tenants in a rents consultation.

The suggested rises were 6.7%, 7.2%, 7.7% and 8.2%.

More than 80% favoured the lowest increase.

But only 232 people responded to the consultation, a meagre 3% of the total number of tenants.

Councillors will decide on the 2024/25 rent rise at a special communities committee on Tuesday.

New Angus Council houses in Arbroath
New homes in Arbroath are part of Angus Council’s investment plan. Image: Angus Council

A joint report by the directors of vibrant communities and finance says consideration of a lower rise in the region of 4% was “demonstrably unaffordable”.

“Until recently, normal practice was to increase rents based on July CPI (consumer price index) + 1%,” it states.

“CPI has however been significantly higher than normal over the last couple of years.

“As a result, rent rises in the last couple of years have been set below prevailing CPI levels to help our tenants in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.

“CPI for December was 4.0% and this is not expected to reduce significantly in the short term.

“A rent rise in line with the 6.7% recommended would therefore mean a return to income levels rising at a rate above the rate at which costs are rising.

“It is important that a balance is struck between maintaining rents at an affordable level, whilst also being able to meet our running costs, invest in new stock and invest in existing stock improvements,” the report adds.

The 6.7% rise would apply to all council homes, as well as the St Christopher’s Travellers’ site near Montrose, garages and garage sites.

Budget warning

The rent-setting plan comes as officials and councillors wrestle with what residents have been warned could be a hard-hitting budget for 2024/25.

Angus Council has a £60 million budget gap to fill in the next few years.

And the authority recently made a direct social media plea to residents to brace themselves for cuts in next month’s budget.

Warnings of reduced road maintenance and redesigned services were accompanied by the message “We can’t pretend this won’t hurt” in an online animation.

 

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