Highland councillors approve small rise in council home rents
13th February 2020
Members today approved a modest 3% rent increase for residential rents and service charges following detailed consultation with tenants.
The increase will result in a rise in the average weekly council house rent from £75.38 to £77.74 (£2.26), which means that Highland rents are still 8th lowest of the 26 councils which retain housing.
Today's report, which went before members at a special meeting of Highland Council, highlighted that rent levels for 2020/21 will generate sufficient income to fund expenditure relating to housing management, repairs and loan charges.
Tenants were consulted on options of a 2.5%, 3% or 3.5% increase. The overall response rate was 1,406, which signalled a significant in crease in the responses to consultation in previous years.
A significant part of the increase in repairs and maintenance (£1.780m) is an additional £1m to comply with new standards for domestic fire detection arising from changes introduced by the Scottish Government as part of the national response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Direct staff cost increases and bad debt provision based on continuing trends in rent arrears are all linked to the decision to increase rents.
Housing and Property Committee chairman, Cllr Ben Thompson, said: "The Council has a legal requirement to balance its Housing Revenue Account income and expenditure at the end of the financial year.
"To that end, members have today accepted the proposal for a small increase to housing rent and service charges for the coming year 2020/21."
He added: “The Council continues to identify annual efficiency savings aimed at reducing management and maintenance costs without compromising best value for tenants.
“This small rise in rents will help to support an improving housing service for tenants."
Highland Council's Tenant Participation Team has also been working with interested tenants who say they would like more say in all aspects of their tenancy.
That close relationship gives tenants the opportunity to put forward their priorities for improvements to the areas they live in and make sure investment is targeted at community priorities. This small increase in rents will further enable the Council to meet those priorities.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate. The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate.
Following the success of its Business Digital Grant scheme launched last year, The Highland Council is delighted to announce further funding. This is to help Highland companies access digital support alongside other business growth support.
The Highland Council is delighted to confirm a highly successful second year for Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Wick and Aberdeen. The period from April 2023 to March 2024 has seen a substantial increase in passenger numbers, with several months seeing over 1,000 passengers using the service, and overall the service has seen year on year growth of 25%.
Members of Highland Council, who met on Thursday 14 March 2024, approved a corporate Digital Ambition, which has been designed to deliver significant organisational change across Council services, recognising the current priorities within the organisation. The Strategy, which is embedded within the wider Council Delivery Plan, has been developed to focus attention and resources on areas of change which will deliver the greatest benefit to the Council.
The Council remains committed to supporting mentoring in our schools, including the support that is currently delivered through the MCR Pathways programme. Highland Council is currently undertaking a review of Employability Support provided by a number of different council services and how these relate to the work carried out by external partners and in our schools.
Highland Council members have considered and agreed a revised draft Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The partnership plan has been reviewed and updated by the Community Planning Partnership.
Members at today's (14 March 2024) meeting of The Highland Council agreed the local authority's new draft Community Wealth Building Strategy. They were also asked to note that a period of public engagement on the draft will now begin, with a final strategy returning to full Council for consideration in September.
