Annual proposed rent increase consultation begins

Letters are being sent to all Orkney Islands Council’s council house tenants seeking views on the rent they are charged for 2023-2024, as part of the annual consultation process.

These will also include an explanatory leaflet and survey forms to complete based on three options -

• A rental freeze for the year.
• An increase of 3%, which would allow £161,000 extra for investment in our housing stock.
• An increase of 5%, capped at £5 per week, which would allow £260,000 extra for housing stock investment.

The Council’s Head of Community Learning, Leisure and Housing, Frances Troup, said: “We realise that this has been a challenging year for many financially, with the cost-of-living increases impacting on all households and in the short term there may be further financial challenges. In order to try and keep rents affordable the Council has tried to keep rental increases low, but we are keen to gauge tenants’ opinions on how they would like the Council to move forward.

“As we do every year, we would encourage as many tenants as possible to fill in the form and return in the pre-paid envelope to OIC to give us a true reflection of what people want, and thereafter the feedback will be contained within a report to go before elected members at the Education, Leisure and Housing Committee in February 2023.

“If tenants require additional information, we are happy to arrange telephone appointments to discuss further.”

The forms should be returned to OIC by 16.00pm on 4 January.

There are a number of factors which can lead to a rise in rental rates:

• Cover increases in the cost of managing and maintaining our housing stock.
• Ensure the Council continues to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard.
• Ensure the Council continues to meet the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing and the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing 2 by 2032.

• Cover the cost of borrowing money to finance the new-build programme.

Chair of the Education, Leisure and Housing Committee, Councillor Gwenda Shearer, said: “This is a consultation process we go through annually. It is important that our rents are affordable and as such I urge tenants to complete the survey to aid elected members in their decision-making process on setting rents.

“It is also important to note that as of November this year, there were more than 1,000 households on the social housing waiting list and the Council has made strategic commitments in relation to building new homes.

“As part of this consultation, we would also like tenants’ opinions on whether the Council should continue to develop new housing to help house households on the waiting list and enable households to transfer to larger or smaller properties as needed.

“I would also ask tenants to consider how important investment in energy efficiency of their properties is to them given the need for all of us to try and reduce the amount of electricity used not just in terms of the rising costs but also for the good of our planet.

“In order to meet the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing 2 by 2032, many properties will need investment of between £20,000 and £25,000. More details will follow in due course as outlined in the information leaflet. This means investment of £161,000 would allow up to 8 additional properties to be brought up to the standard. £260,000 would mean up to 13 additional properties could be brought up to the standard.

“We, very much, do acknowledge the financial and emotional strains being placed on so many during these unprecedented times and would ask that anyone finding themselves in difficulty get in touch to discuss at the earliest opportunity.”

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Notes: 

The Council approved a 2.6% rental increase for 2022-2023.