Highland Council rent hike will create hardship for tenants on the edge, warns Easter Ross councillor
ROSS-SHIRE tenants already struggling to make ends meet will be unfairly hit by a controversially agreed eight per cent rent hike.
That’s the view of Easter Ross councillor John Edmondson, who was opposed to the increase agreed yesterday by Highland Council.
The Cromarty Firth ward councillor said the eight per cent increase “would amount to a 20% increase over 3 years”.
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He said: “It is claimed that 2 per cent of the rent increase will go to energy efficiency measures. Similar justifications for increases have not resulted in a full spend for energy savings, and in any case should come out of a different budget.
“The increases are small in pounds and pence, but the increases will significantly eat into any Pensioner Age Winter Payments agreed by the Scottish Government for instance. ANY rent increase affects not those on benefits, but those on the cusp of receiving these benefits and with all the other increases in household bills and uncertainty over energy prices now is not the time to put in a rent increase three times the rate of inflation placing more people into hardship.”
And looking at the bigger political picture, the Liberal Democrat said: “The Labour Government makes much of increasing the level of housebuilding, but at the same time are charging the local authorities such as the Highland Council 10-11% in interest on historic loans and charging high penalty charges for early payment of any loans.
“Currently 43% of rental income goes to paying the interest on this debt. If the HM Treasury were serious about building more homes and having more homes available for social housing they could write off these debts or allow the Highland Council to restructure their loans so that they were paying less in interest and were able to improve their housing stock and build more homes in the Highlands.”
The projected budget for the next financial year makes clear that the payments for loans is expected to account for £32.5 million - that is 43 per cent of the whole housing revenue budget.
By comparison, the amount spent on repairs and maintenance stands at just 31 per cent, or £23.2 million.
What was at stake this week were two contrasting views.
The first was that the rise is too steep, will cause hardship for tenants, will not deliver the level of maintenance claimed and the bulk of the money will go on debt maintenance.
The second said the rise was needed to maintain and even increase work on properties, provide warmer, more energy efficient homes, and to manage the “significant burden” of debt.
Under the current proposed rise of eight per cent, Highland council house tenants will face an average increase in their rents of around £7.17 per week - or of between £5.35 (bedsits) and £9.51 (four or more bedrooms) depending on their property’s size.
The rise would mean people living in bedsits, one, and two-bedroom houses would still be paying less per week than the equivalent Scottish averages for 2024/25. Three-bedroom houses, however, would see their weekly rents rise to £105.95, slightly more than the Scottish average for 2024/25 of £104.19 - although that latter figure was before any planned rent increases for the 2025/26 fiscal year are factored in. Four-bedroom properties (£118.91) were already paying more than the Scottish average (£114.78 per week) and the eight per cent rise would increase that to £128.42.
But the cross-party bid by 15 councillors to reverse a decision to hike Highland Council housing rents by eight per cent this year was voted down 37 to 25.
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