Swindon tenants set for rent increase
Rent for social houses and flats will likely go up 5% from April
Tenants in Swindon Borough Council’s flats and houses will be asked for five per cent more in rent next year.
That will set the average weekly rent in the borough’s 10,000 council homes at £90.51 compared to £86.20 this year.
The authority’s ruling Conservative cabinet has approved the increase and it will go to the full council for approval – but the Conservatives have a healthy 10-seat majority and it would be a shock were the increase not approved.
But as council leader David Renard who introduced the proposals in the absence of the cabinet member for housing Cathy Martyn, who resigned last week, pointed out the increase could have been much higher.
He said: “The formula for rent increases in recent years has been the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation plus one per cent. That would have meant that this year’s increase would be 11 per cent.”
Councillor Renard said the government decided that was too much and told councils they could set an increase at three or five or seven per cent.
He said the council held “extensive consultation with tenants and we got the very strong message that tenants feel five per cent was appropriate.
The council say they will invest £17m in its housing stock next year and has set aside £3.45m specifically to invest in energy efficiency, and is asking for match funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Communities and Housing.
It will spend £8.9m on finishing existing affordable housing schemes such as Queens Drive and £2m on buying houses to provide for adults with complex needs and £2.3m on accommodation for refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan.
The measures are subject to full council approval on February 16.