Council rents in Gosport are going to go up by seven per cent

The government said it would introduce the rent cap in December last year to strike ‘an appropriate balance’ between protecting social tenants from high rent increases and ensuring that providers have money to maintain council homes.

The previous policy allowed landlords to raise the rent by consumer price inflation which would have seen rents rise by 11.1 per cent without intervention. Tenants have saved an estimated £200 per year compared to if the full increase had been applied.

Gosport Borough Council officers report ‘ongoing challenges to maintain the continuation of high-quality services to its tenants’.

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The proposal to increase rents in line with the government’s current recommendation is considered to strike the right balance to ensure that the council continues to provide high-quality services to tenants and that the necessary programmes of maintenance and repairs to council housing stock are undertaken, as well as delivering new affordable council homes for the borough.’

As well as rent, service charges will increase on average by four per cent including council-provided heating services.

The rent on garages will increase by 10.1 per cent.

The council has 3,069 tenanted and 308 leasehold properties – the seven per cent rise is expected to generate an additional £945,000.

On average rents will increase by £5 a week for social housing tenants, £11.83 for hostels and £10.91 for affordable properties.

The council has experienced ‘significant cost pressures’ including material prices for repairs and maintenance rising by up to 40 per cent (£846,000) together with a £670,000 rise in management costs.