Government Wants To Increase Local Authority Rents

The Government wants to increase local authority rents to bring them more in line with housing association rent levels. Therefore rents for council tenants in Leicester are set to rise by an average of five per cent if proposals for the next financial year are approved.

All rents have to be set against a Government formula which takes into account local earning levels, property values and the number of bedrooms a house has.

Under the proposals, Leicester's average rent increase for 2007/8 will be five per cent, with the actual changes ranging from a 0.6 per cent reduction to a 6.6 per cent increase, depending on the size of the property.

The report will be considered by full council on January 25, after going before the housing and community safety scrutiny committee on January 11.

Leicester City Council's cabinet member for housing, Councillor Paul Smith, said, "The responsibility for council rent has been removed from the tenants and council working together.

The amount is now being set by the government, but the increase is above what the council would have hoped to see."