Rents rise by five per cent
North Lanarkshire Council tenants will have to fork out an extra five per cent in rent in the coming year.
The average weekly rent will rise from £61.06 in 2017/18 to £64.11 in 2018/19 – an increase of £3.05 a week.
The rent increase will generate an additional £ 5,681,000 in revenue for the council over four years.
Other housing charges will also incur a five per cent increase and generate £59,000 of income for the council.
The weekly charge for a standard lockup will go up from £ 5.87 to £ 6.16, which will generate an additional £50,277 for the council.
To reflect the additional revenue generated through the increased charges, the budget for lock-up repairs has risen to £52,000.
Tenants in sheltered housing complexes will also have to shell out an additional five per cent to cover the cost of heating.
In 2018/19, North Lanarkshire Council has set aside £750,000 for the Empty Homes Purchase Scheme. The average cost per property is £ 75,000, with the council’s investment augmented by a Scottish Government grant of £30,000 per property.
A report on housing revenue estimates reveals that £1.628 million is to be held in contingency for potential remedial repair works following structural surveys of the area’s high rise flats.
The council has also earmarked up to £1,212,000 savings in housing revenue costs through measures such as the restructuring of enterprise and housing resources, cutting overtime and slashing temporary funded posts.
The local authority’s success in reducing the number of empty properties will net £50,000 in savings in 2018/19, with housing repair savings reaching £200,000.
Due to uncertainty over the future treatment of housing benefit for temporary accommodation, there is unlikely to be a hike in weekly charges for furnished and supported temporary housing.
Councillor Allan Graham, convener of enterprise and housing for North Lanarkshire Council, said: “It’s essential that our residents benefit from the best quality housing we can provide. That is not just about our strategy for the towers in North Lanarkshire, or our new-build programme. It’s about maintaining our current housing stock to the highest possible standard.
“Councillors across the chamber recognised that ambition and approved a four-year rent increase to ensure certainty about what can be achieved going forward. Even with this increase, our rents remain among the very lowest in Scotland. Every penny will be invested in new and existing houses so that we can tackle the waiting list and provide the very best homes possible.”