South Lanarkshire Council rents to rise

Feb 18 2010 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

SOUTH Lanarkshire’s 25,000 council house tenants will have to pay more for their rent next financial year.

Rents will rise 3.75 per cent from April 1 following a four per cent increase this financial year.

North Lanarkshire Council last week agreed a 3½ per cent increase in rents for their 37,000 council tenants.

The forthcoming rents jump in South Lanarkshire equates to an average weekly rise of £1.95 and means that the average rent will increase from £51.90 per week to £53.85 per week. It compares with last year's rise of £1.99.

A South Lanarkshire Council spokesman said they recommended the 3¾ per cent rise after seeking the views of tenants.

He added: “Tenants were fully involved in the process of deciding this year's rent increase, starting with a budgeting and rent-setting conference last September, and a tenant-led question time event in December.”

At a series of presentations to tenants' forums across South Lanarkshire, tenants were offered the chance to express a preference on four options ranging from no rents increase to a jump of 4¾ per cent.

The spokesman added: “It was felt very strongly that the HomeHappening kitchen and bathroom programme needed to continue and be completed by 2011-12, and the consequent consensus was for the 3¾ per cent increase, which would enable this to be the case.”

Almost £41m is to be spent on HomeHappening in the 12 months from April.

In 23 separate projects across South Lanarkshire, £28m will pay for new kitchens and bathrooms in 2950 homes.

A further £12.56m will be spent on schemes to improve the quality of life for tenants in advance of the legal deadline for achieving the Scottish Housing Quality Standard by 2015.

More than £1m of this has been earmarked for external works, such as repairs to the external fabric of properties, roofing replacement, structural work on walkways and repair work to roughcast, while a further £190,000 will pay for environmental improvements to the surrounding areas.

And £4.6m will go on refurbishment, heating system replacement or installation, structural work, the upgrading of lock-ups and work to ensure properties comply with the Disability Discrimination Act

Since HomeHappening started in 2004-05, £192m has been spent on upgrading the council’s housing stock. So far 20,000 homes have been modernised under the scheme.

Three out of every four council houses in South Lanarkshire have now had their kitchens and bathrooms replaced as part as HomeHappening.