Highland Council house tenants face rent hike
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HIGHLAND council house tenants will see their rents rise by around 71p per week after councillors agreed a 1 per cent increase for 2015/16.
From April 1, the average weekly rate will go up from £70.26 to £70.97.
The percentage increase will also apply to camp sites for Scottish Travellers and Gypsies, hostel rents, garages and garage site rents. Communities committee chairman Graeme MacKenzie told Thursday’s meeting the council had successfully limited rent increase to below the Scottish average over the past few years.
The council has the 11th highest average rent of the 26 councils that have housing stock. This compares with being 8th highest in 2013/14.
Loch Ness and Aird councillor Margaret Davidson said it was down to the hard work and competence of the staff.
She said: "I want to congratulate our housing service staff for the competent way they manage their budget."
The council consulted with tenants and the results indicated 71 per cent were satisfied the rent was value for money.
Inverness Central councillor Donnie Kerr said tenants were "not that bothered about the 1 per cent rise" but were more critical of the council’s housing maintenance service.
He said: "We are getting to the point where the service is deteriorating. There is no doubt about it. There’s been too much of a backlog of stuff for me to say that it’s improving. It’s not. We can do better."
