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Cllr Chris Naylor |
Tenants braced for massive rent hikes
Don’t blame us, blame the government, says council
COUNCIL tenants have been told to brace themselves for an eye-watering five per cent hike in their rents with even bigger rises in future years.
Families will have to fork out hundreds of pounds extra to meet the bills which could amount to around £10 a week.
Housing chiefs have adopted a ‘don’t blame us’ approach and instead insisted the responsibility lies squarely with the government.
They say that cuts to subsidies and funding means the council will have no option but to ask tenants to fork out more.
By law, rents can only be increased by a maximum of five per cent.
But the council says that even larger rises may be required in future because it is struggling to find enough cash to complete repairs and tricky maintenance work.
Such increases would mean the Town Hall would struggle to keep rents in line with those charged with housing associations.
The alert follows plans from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to reduce the subsidy for council housing that it hands to inner London authorities.
Liberal Democrat Chris Naylor said: “I’m saddened that there is so little sympathy for Camden tenants. Tenants will be very concerned that central government is not delivering the funding we need to support council housing, with subsidy already planned to be cut by over £5 million this year.”
The housing department and the DCLG are already at loggerheads over a missing £300 million payment that was denied to Camden because tenants and leaseholders rejected a move to an Arms-Length Management Organisation (Almo), an independent company.
While Camden has demanded traditional direct investment, the government has refused to shell out the money needed to meet a growing backlog of repairs.
Cllr Naylor added: “As well as the problems we face in funding the major repairs and renovations our homes needs, the government is cutting back on central subsidy year by year meaning tenants face higher and higher rents.”
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