renting from council - rent increases

brightonman123

seems to be going up (again)- by 5% this year.. any way to appeal / limit rises?

LisaLou1982

no

try the private sector and then youll see how good youve got it!

poppysarah

Our local council (now actually social housing) is, from April, making tenants pay their own water rates.

I'm not sure they've actually told them how much it is a week so it is going to be a shock as someone reckoned it was about £12 a month.

They're also wondering what % increase the rent will go up, and whether it'll go up on the amount that previously included the water rates...

Candy53

We're with an HA, and during the 3 years we've been here, our rent has gone up by £66 a month.

We get an added letter with the rent increase letter every year which is from the Government to the HA, telling them that our rent should be put up to 80% of private rents. Why?!

Won't this just cause more and more tenants to have to claim HB, when the Government are cutting down on benefits?

Social housing is supposed to be for families who can't afford private rents, are on low incomes, and can't afford to buy.

We are getting towards a private rent stage now, and we're struggling, and can't afford to go on like this, and we fear about our future. Also, we wonder when the 80% will be reached. Are the Government going on London private rents? Private rents differ according to what part of the country you live in.

We don't even know our HA have set as a private rent as a comparison, so it worries me that we won't know if they will stop at the 80% or carry on.



Candy

CKhalvashi

Candy53 wrote: »

We are getting towards a private rent stage now, and we're struggling, and can't afford to go on like this, and we fear about our future. Also, we wonder when the 80% will be reached. Are the Government going on London private rents? Private rents differ according to what part of the country you live in.

We don't even know our HA have set as a private rent as a comparison, so it worries me that we won't know if they will stop at the 80% or carry on.

Candy

It's 80% of average rent for an area for a property of a comparable size/spec. The HA haven't set it, the council have.

It is the maximum LHA rate for private rents, so that's how high it will go.

CK

Building_Surveyor

There is minimal money made in social housing so if you think councils and HAs are lining their pockets with rent money, they're not.

When we buy or build a property the property does not start to make a surplus in rent til about year 30. Before then the HA is making a loss. Voids periods and people who don't pay the rent will increase that.

squinty

CKhalvashi wrote: »

It's 80% of average rent for an area for a property of a comparable size/spec. The HA haven't set it, the council have.

It is the maximum LHA rate for private rents, so that's how high it will go.

CK

This is unlikley to be correct.

80% of the market rent is the Governments idea of affordable rent - which the Housing Association have chosen to follow

For further information see http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2014/feb/03/affordable-housing-meaning-rent-social-housing

squinty

brightonman123 wrote: »

seems to be going up (again)- by 5% this year.. any way to appeal / limit rises?

Short answer, no. Unless you want to end your tenancy.

Longer explanation. Up to 2012 the Government produced a formula to set rents for Housing Associations and Councils. The took into account a range of factors such as the value of the property, size etc. This produced a target or formula rent.

If the actual rent charged was below the target rent (which increased by inflation plus 0.5% each year) the rent would increase to target rent over a period of 10 years (the 10 year period was later extended). However an addtional cap was introduced to 'protect' tenants from large increases.

In 2012 the government changed the way that Council Housing was financed. There had been a national 'subsidy' system for council housing (Although termed a subsidy system local councils paid over £100m more into the system than came out - ie it was a negative subsidy) into a self financing system.

However, most local councils needed to make a payment to government to exit the earlier system. In working out the level of payment the government assumed that each council would continue to follow the formula rent system - and the Councils borowed money on that basis.

This means that although in theory each council has the freedom to set thier own rent levels, in reality they are constrained by the actions of Government. Your rent will increase each year by above inflation (RPI & 1/2 % now, CPI & 1% from next year). This is needed for the council to service the debt it took on and to provide the managment, repairs and investment in housing.

CKhalvashi

squinty wrote: »

This is unlikley to be correct.

80% of the market rent is the Governments idea of affordable rent - which the Housing Association have chosen to follow

For further information see http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2014/feb/03/affordable-housing-meaning-rent-social-housing

Sorry, that was what I meant to word it as.

Many HA's (including the largest in the UK, which I work closely with) have chosen to follow this, and this was the figure given above.

I should also have said that it should be around the LHA rate, not will be, as there are slightly varying factors whilst working out the two.

CK