Rent is charged on all properties, and covers the cost of things like repairs, housing management and capital improvements and it is not dependent on the costs of services provided.
For existing tenants, the rent charges will be decreased by 1% from April 2018. This is in line with the policy that was first announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer as part of his Budget Statement in July 2015 and confirmed in the Welfare Reform Act 2016.
As a result of this change, the average rent for council tenancies will be around £86.93 per week. This represents the weekly rent that is payable over 50 weeks and takes into account the two pre-paid weeks, two weeks in December each year.
For new tenants of existing council stock, rent charges will be set at 'formula rents' as set out in the Government publication 'Guidance on Rents for Social Housing' as published in May 2014 and capped by Welfare Reform Act 2016. Average formula rent for 2018-2019 is £87.92 per week.
For tenants of new council housing (either newly built or newly acquired by the council), rent charges will be linked to Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates instead of ‘formula rents’. Average LHA rent for 2018-2019 is £171.60 per week.