Social housing rents to rise along as investment doubles (From Your Local Guardian)

Sutton social housing rents to rise along as investment doubles

2:00pm Thursday 9th February 2012 in Sutton By Matt Watts

Social housing rents will rise by 8.3 per cent from April - nearly twice the rate of inflation.

Councillor John Drage, the council's executive member for finance, said the increase would be particularly hard on tenants in the current economic climate when wages were low and unemployment was high, as the increases were voted through by the council's executive on Monday (February 6).

He said the council's hands were tied on increasing the rents, because the Government was demanding local authority rents were brought in line with housing association rates by 2015-16.

Coun Jayne McCoy, the executive member for housing, said what could sweeten the pill for tenants was that rents could now be spent directly on local housing stock, after the council lobbied central Government for a change in policy.

Sutton Council will now spend a record £22.5m on renovating its housing stock over the next 12 months.

New kitchens, bathrooms, windows and heating top the list of projects that will be undertaken across the borough from April after the council's executive approved the investment.

The council said the investment represents a 50 per cent increase in the current annual budget, and will see thousands of council tenants benefit from work to their homes.