Stirling Council tenants will continue to have some of the lowest rents in Scotland as households face growing financial pressure due to the rising cost of living.
Councillors approved a 1.1 per cent increase in housing rents for the year ahead at a special meeting of the council on Thursday.
This year’s consulation with tenants presented three rent increase options - 1.1, 1.5 or 1.7 per cent.
The 1.1 per cent option will raise an additional £232,000 in rental income to enable the service to meet employee and inflation cost pressures as well as invest in 250 kitchens, 200 bathrooms, 200 central heating units, window replacements in 200 properties and to build or purchase approximately 70 new properties.
The option also provides £900,000 of investment in renewables for 137 properties, including properties being constructed in 2022/23 and installations in council owned flats within mixed tenure blocks.
The 1.1 per cent rent rise will mean the average rent will increase by £0.84 per week over the 48-week rental period, from £76.75 in 2021/22 to £77.59 in 2022/23.
The average Scottish local authority housing rent in 2021/22 is £77.83 (over 52 weeks).
While the two higher options would have result in investment in more homes, particularly for renewables, officers said even with the lower increase Stirling was still well ahead of most local authorities in Scotland in terms of renewables in their housing stock.
They added that while rising construction costs was something which would have to be kept under review it was not thought that this would seriously impact the work and may just mean that a handful of properties may not being included.
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Councillors also voted for a 1.1 per cent increase in rent prices for garages and pitch sites for 2022/23.
Housing portfolio holder, SNP councillor Jim Thomson said: “We understand our residents are facing financial pressures across the board, from the rise in heating bills to the increasing costs of groceries and fuel prices.
“That’s why we listened to the views of our tenants and backed the lowest possible increase in their rent costs. This decision means that our council house rents remain the second lowest in Scotland, avoiding a significant additional burden on our tenants while their income is stretched due to the rising cost of living.”
Tory councillor Martin Earl said: “This is a sensible course to steer on this so there is agreement from across the chamber.
A total of 371 responses were received to the rent consultation questionnaire sent to all tenants - a response rate of 6.9 per cent. This compared to 501 responses (9.3 per cent response rate) for a previous questionnaire.
Officers, however, said the lower response was thought to be at least partly down to tenant satisfaction as people were more likely to respond if they were unhappy with the options, but they pledged to look at how to encourage even greater engagement.
Just over 66 per cent of respondents supported the 1.1 per cent increase, 23 per cent the 1.5 per cent increase and 10.5 per cent were in favour of a 1.7 per cent increase.
A total of 271 (almost 75 per cent) of respondents were of the view that the rent for their property represented “very good” or “fairly good” value for money.
