Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting (January 14) of the council’s cabinet, leader Glen Sanderson said rents will increase by 2.7 per cent – equivalent to around £2 a week. It follows on from a 7.7 per cent increase last year, or around £6.40 a week.
A report presented to the cabinet explained that almost three-quarters (74.57 per cent) of tenants will not be hit in the pocket by the increase, as they receive housing benefit or Universal Credit and will therefore have the increase covered by the state.
The remaining 25.43 per cent of the council’s 8,186 properties are responsible for paying their rent in full.
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Cabinet member for housing Cllr Colin Horncastle said the council’s housing revenue account – which records expenditure and income on running a council’s own housing stock – was “under significant pressure”.
The report highlighted increased borrowing costs, higher levels of pay awards and inflation and the cost of fuel and utilities as major factors for this pressure. It means the HRA is facing an increase in expenditure of £3.4 million in 2025/26.
The increase in rent will only raise an additional £83,000 – meaning a contribution of £2 million from the HRA’s reserves and £400,000 from the Rent Hardship Fund’s reserve is needed for the budget to break even.
Cllr Sanderson said: “This will mean for tenants an increase in rent of around £2 a week. We have over 8,000 tenants and the vast majority – over 70% – are on benefits.
“Last year, when rents had to go up by a significant amount, we created a hardship fund to help those people who might just really struggle with that increase. That hardship fund wasn’t used up, so we will be using some money this year to help deliver the service that we want.
“We have the best net-satisfaction of any council in the North East. We want to continue to build housing and affordable housing, and that is what we are doing.”
The increase will come into force from April 1. The cabinet unanimously approved the move.