Council rent rise is ‘in tenants’ best interests’

The rise, which was agreed by Warwick district councillors on Wednesday night, falls in line with Government guidance which requires councils to increase their rents to meet the requirements of rent restructuring and convergence.

Average rents will be increased by £6.36 to £82.15 per week, a rise of 8.39 per cent.

At a meeting of Warwick District Council’s executive committee last week, Cllr Alan Boad (Lib Dem, Leamington Crown) said: “An 8.39 per cent increase with times being as they are is not good news for anyone, I don’t care whether you weigh it up against council tax or not.

“You have 60 per cent of tenants on benefits who will be OK but those who aren’t have a problem because they will get hit, hard.

“I won’t argue against rent conversions but if you have any flexibility in there to smooth over a two or three year period to get the increase down then we should do that because we are talking about the here and now.

“Sooner or later we will come out of this and the opportunity is there to make a difference to the tenants who are just above the benefit level.”

Cllr Andrew Mobbs (Con, Kenilworth Park Hill) said the council is committed to improving services and ensuring financial viability in light of the fact it is borrowing £136 million, which will provide the capacity to build new homes.

Cllr Norman Vincett (Con, Kenilworth St Johns), who is responsible for policy on housing and property services, said: “The decision was made bearing in mind the forecast for future inflation - as of yesterday it was three per cent and later in the year it could be two, which is encouraging.

“Part of the logic in my decision, while it’s a hard pill to swallow, was I believe it will be in the best interest of tenants because of the fall in inflation coupled with this district council not increasing its council tax and the county council too.

“If there were a concession this year there would need to be a catching up. If that stretched into future years it could be detrimental for residents in the sense that, coupled with whatever inflation might be plus the further liability I believe is likely, the two councils will increase their council tax in future years.”