Garage rents stay below inflation

LAST week the Lochaber Times reported concerns from Fort William residents, outraged over the possibility their rents to the council for garages or for the ground on which their own garage buildings stood, could be set to rocket by hundreds of pounds each year.

But last Thursday (January 25), Highland Council said it had listened to its customers and agreed a below-inflation rise in garage and garage sites rents.

The results of a Highland Council consultation on housing, garage and garage sites rents directed the decision-making of councillors at the People Committee.

Members agreed to a below inflation increase of three per cent for garage and garage sites rents. This would result in an average rent increase of 28p to £9.63 per week for a garage and 5p to £1.62 per week for a garage site.

A consultation on proposed rent increases was carried out late 2017 and into early 2018 among tenants and owners renting garages or garage sites from the council. The consultation proposed increases in garages/ sites to a more commercial level to allow increased investment in repairs.

The majority (91.8 per cent) of respondents did not want to see rent increases at the level of commercial rents proposed.

Andrew Baxter, Independent councillor for Fort William and Ardnamurchan, who chairs the local authority’s People Committee, said the council wanted to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to setting garage rent levels as the condition of garage sites varies across Highland and there is differing demand between different areas.

‘I am pleased the People Committee endorsed my suggestion that local councillors are better placed to develop priorities within their own area,’ he said.

‘Councillors have agreed we should look at devolving this responsibility to local committees as part of the council’s continued localism agenda.’