Angus councillors have rubber-stampped a council house rent increase that will break the £60-per-week barrier for tenants.
A planned £2 per week rise in average rents represents a 3.4% increase, but the proposal will not come as a surprise to the thousands of tenants across the district as it had been put in place as part of a four-year phased rent restructure that was approved in 2014.
The average rent will rise by £2.02 to £61.55 per week, based on the current year average rent figure of £59.53 on a 52-week basis.
The proposal will bring in a total rental income increase of £710,000 from last year.
Rents for garages and stores are set to rise by less than 1% to an average of £266 per annum, with a similar level of increase for pitches at the St Christopher’s Travelling people site at Tayock on the edge of Montrose, where additional income from a £51.69 per week rent will be used to carry out improvements there following consultation with tenants.
The council’s head of planning and place, Vivien Smith, said: “The rent restructure approved by members in 2014 established rent levels for tenants so that they know how much their rent will be until 2017-18.
“They will, however, continue to receive their statutory 28-day notice annually and members will also continue to be presented with the resultant housing revenue account budget for approval annually.”
Officers say the new figure which follows a 3.6% increase last year should keep Angus rents among the lowest in Scotland, and well below the national average, which last year sat at pennies under £66.
The rent-setting report also delivers updates on the significant capital projects for 2016-17, including the creation of 29 new affordable homes at the former Chapelpark Primary School, Forfar, 41 homes for Arbroath’s Abbey Quarter and 11 houses at Viewmount, Forfar.
It adds: “A major programme is proposed to replace bathrooms in the majority of the housing stock.
“This is in response to customer consultation exercises in which tenants told us that having a modern bathroom was one of their highest priority aspirations after having a good kitchen.
“Some 10% of the existing stock has already had bathrooms improved as part of modernisations or adaptations.
“This leaves some 7,000 homes needing improvement.
“It is proposed that the programme starts in 2016-17 and is delivered over some nine years to 2025.”