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Tenants face £6-a-week rent rise
RENT HIKE ... South Tyneside Council's cabinet meets tomorrow to discuss proposed rent rises.
COUNCIL tenants in South Tyneside are facing a near-£6-a-week rent rise this year, it has been revealed.
Members of the authority’s decision-making cabinet will be asked to approve an average £5.80 increase among a raft of other budget recommendations when they meet tomorrow.
The hike has been set in conjunction with Government rent restructuring guidelines, but Town Hall bosses say the vast majority of tenants will not pay the full increase – because they receive rent rebates.
Of the 17,755 borough tenants paying rent, 12,791 – 72 per cent – receive full or partial housing benefits.
A three per cent rise in the council’s garage rents and a freeze in Council Tax bills are among the other recommendations up for approval.
That’s the same percentage rise being proposed for the council’s landlord service and guest room, heating and temporary accommodation charges for 2012/13.
The recommendations come as the council faces up to a further £20m of savings in the next financial year.
At the end of last year, rent arrears in the borough stood at £1.386m, a drop of £24,000 on 2010 levels.
A council spokesman said: “We are obliged to set rents in line with the government’s rent restructuring policy.
“This policy aims to achieve comparable rents for similar properties across all social landlords.
“Historically the rent charges for council homes in South Tyneside have been low and, as a result of this, the rent increase in the borough needs to be higher than in other areas to meet the target set by the Government.
“We are investing over £200m in our housing stock through the Decent Homes programme, which is improving people’s lives as well as their homes.
“We will continue to work alongside South Tyneside Homes to offer valuable support to help local people manage their money and avoid going into arrears.”
If agreed, rent increases will come into force from Monday, April 2.
The council’s cabinet will meet in the council chamber at South Shields Town Hall from 4pm. Members of the public can attend.
Twitter: @shieldsgazpaul
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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Comments
There are 11 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
gypsey91
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 12:34 PMi to had decent homes work done in my home. the contracters done a wonderfull job.gento was there name. thanks to south tyneside homes.
geordie999
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 11:34 AMignore the flak Susan 5 .....council tenants are at the mercy of both local and national government decisions. private renting is starting to look good , or even a life as a gypsy anyone else sick of getting screwed .?
Mr_RiL
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 09:07 AMNice to see you've finally found the Caps Lock key Susan5.
walkerchris
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 07:37 AMNo-one is saying that rents shouldn't go up at all - but once again, tenants are being told that the increase will be about twice the rate of inflation. The problem I have with this is that people who don't qualify for housing benefit (working people with low paid jobs) are being asked to stump up more to put money in the council coffers. Believe me, if I could afford a mortgage I would be out of council tenancy like a shot. And don't believe the decent homes hype put about by the council - the damage done to my home and possessions by some of the contractors was disgraceful. As council tenants we are seen as being less than human so any number of luminous coated 'work' men could traipse their muddy size tens through our homes and leave them looking like building sites. I'd have happily lived with my old kitchen and bathroom in order to avoid the upheaval and cost of the decent homes shambles.
susan5
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 08:03 PMWere in hard times and its gonna get even harder, god help us all.............
geordie999
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 07:50 PMthink its bad now ,aint seen anything yet ...2013 ..start paying for those empty bedrooms ?
Hebburnman
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 06:59 PMWhy should the rents not go up?? My mortgage goes up each year, All because people have chosen to rent doesent mean that the rent should not go up. At the end of the day all your repairs are done for you and because of the decent homes schem you all got New kitchens, bathrooms, fireplaces etc, wish i could get a new kitchen and bathroom.
wasthatthatguy
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 06:32 PMI saw a newspaper article which said the Government wants to make council rents the same as private sector rents by about 2015. If so, council rents will probably be rising to about £500 to £600 per month over the next few years.
couldntgiveamonkeysbollards
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 06:31 PM72% is anyone working in this town .....
walkerchris
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 05:49 PM72% getting full or partial housing benefit???? That's a very revealing figure and probably shows just how rundown and desperate this area is. What a shame that those of us having to pay 100% of our rent to the council are being slapped for another 6% rise (12 months after the last 6% rise) - our rent will now be approaching £400 per calendar month. The council will blame the government and the government will blame the council and the people who will suffer most are the low income working families. We are all in this together...
wasthatthatguy
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 04:51 PMRe "We are investing over £200m in our housing stock through the Decent Homes programme, which is improving people’s lives as well as their homes." That's a lot of money. One can see the Council putting new roofs on their properties. Is it necessary? Probably not. But gives the housing workers something to do. Yup, jobs for the boys and girls.
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