Rent Consultation 2022/23

Rent Consultation 2022/23

We are seeking our tenants views on the proposal for the 2022/23 rent charges. As a housing co-operative, owned and controlled by our tenants, we depend on rental income to provide housing and deliver the services necessary to maintain and improve your home and the local environment.

As we recover from covid we continue to face further challenges as the impact of both covid and Brexit has led to not only your costs going up but ours too. We want to keep rents affordable and comparable with other housing associations whilst maintaining the quality of our homes and neighbourhoods. How do we do both?

Drumchapel Housing Co-operative Board members have a very difficult decision to make about your rent and any service charges from April 2022. In April 2021, DHCL decided to apply a rent freeze due to the impact of Covid-19.  Unfortunately, due to our long-term financial commitments and increasing costs such as materials, we are unable to offer a further rent freeze this year.

Covid and lockdown have been very difficult for many people for a variety of reasons. Although most restrictions have ended, people are facing new challenges – such as higher energy bills, rising food costs, increased fuel costs, the end of furlough payments and the end of the £20 Universal Credit uplift.

Our running costs are also rising. We are having to pay more for services; for supplies and materials, for energy and fuel - and labour shortages mean our repairs and planned maintenance contracts are costing more for example our window replacement program costs have increased next year by approximately 15%. We need to ensure our running costs are covered as well as future provisions for major repairs and improvements. The priorities for the Co-operative over the next few years are to continue with planned improvement and cyclical works such as, bathroom/kitchen upgrades, window and boiler replacements and external painter work programs. Also, at this time we will start to look at the impact of the carbon neutral and how these costs will be financed going forward.

We are working harder to keep your neighbourhood safe and tidy where the Council has reduced services an example of this being the removal of the free bulk uplift service. Each year we review how much money we need to provide services in the year ahead. We use this to decide whether our rents have to increase and, if so, by how much.

When we look at rent changes, we do not look at any one year in isolation rather we look at what the co-operative needs to keep the business running and keeping your home maintained to the highest possible standard over the next thirty years.

Please note that we have not made a final decision on the rent increase, this will happen at our Management Board meeting on 25th January 2022, therefore, if you have any comments or views please let us know by 12pm on Friday 14th January 2022.  We welcome your opinions and will have a prize draw of two gift vouchers for those tenants who take part.  There are various ways you can get in contact –

  • Complete our online survey via SurveyMonkey at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3PDV7ZC
  • Come and see us at one of our sessions on Tuesday 11th January 2022 at either 10am or 3:30pm.  These will be hybrid meetings so you can attend the office or contact us for the login details to attend via Zoom Video Conferencing.
  • Email your comments to enquiries@drumchapelhc.org.uk
  • Send us a message on our Facebook page Drumchapel Housing Co-operative
  • Telephone the office and have a chat to your Housing Officer