Council to hike rents
RISE NEEDED ‘TO MAINTAIN QUALITY’
COUNCIL property rents and service charges in Kirklees will go up this year.
In 2020/2021, tenants with homes within Kirklees Council’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) can expect to pay an average weekly rent of £70.16 – an increase of 2.7%.
Charges for extra care services will also go up – by 2.7% for night care service and by 2% for intensive housing management.
Garage rents will also increase by 2.7%.
The changes will come into force on April 6 and apply for five years.
The increase follows the introduction in 2016 of a rent cap by the Government, which required social landlords like Kirklees to reduce their rents by 1% each year for four years.
The cumulative impact in lost revenue to Kirklees Council was £24.3m.
The council says it is unlikely to fully recoup that money, despite being “prudent as an administration” over the last four years.
New tenants will continue to be charged a target rent based on size, value, location and local earnings levels.
The council’s Cabinet member for housing, Clr Cathy Scott, said: “The HRA is ring-fenced money. It has to be specifically spent, so it’s about areas where it can be spent on.
“It’s to maintain all our stock levels to decency standard over a 30-year period.
“It’s about high-quality housing management and housing repair services, and it’s about exploring the opportunities that are on the horizon for a strategic investment in new-build.”
Council leader Clr Shabir Pandor added that the aftermath of the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster and the highlighting of shortfalls by the Hackitt review meant local authorities such as Kirklees had had to do more to comply with fire safety regulations.
He added: “We are still committed to doing that.”