We want our rents and service charges to stay affordable and reasonable. As we are reviewing our budgets, we are looking at how we can balance increasing costs, prioritise what we do, invest in homes, and manage how we keep our rents affordable for our tenants.
As a small community-based Housing Co-operative owned and controlled by tenants, we depend solely on rental income to provide services, investment in your homes, and maintain and improve the neighbourhood.
We are a not-for-profit charity and any surpluses generated by rental income are re-invested into your homes and community to help achieve our mission “delivering and supporting quality affordable homes and all-inclusive community living”. This means that any surplus income is set aside for future repair and improvement works such as new kitchens, bathrooms, windows, boilers and improvements to the estate.
We would like to hear from our tenants their views on the proposed rent increase for 2025/26.
Why do rents increase?
Registered Social Landlords are required to charge reasonable, affordable rents so that we can continue to provide services to you our customers and to continue to invest in your homes. Last year we advised tenants that the Co-operative’s costs had increased dramatically. Unfortunately, the costs of providing our services and maintaining the neighbourhood have continued to increase in the last year and early indications are that costs will not reduce despite the recent sharp drop in inflation. Some examples of increased costs for the Co-operative are:
- The new environmental landscaping contract costs increased by 35% compared to the previous contract.
- Insurance costs increased by 98% in the last two years
- Planned Maintenance on average 6% higher than in 2023.
- Employer’s national insurance contributions increasing to 15%
What have we done in the past?
The base business plan model we use for rent increases is Consumer Price Index (CPI) at October, however, prior to last year, the Co-operative, to assist tenants with the impact of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis had a rent freeze in 2021/22 followed by half CPI increases in 2022/23 and again in 2023/24 as shown in the table below. The impact of having a half CPI rent increase in 2023/24 was that cash almost halved in the 30 year model from £10.5M to £5.5M. This means that cash set aside for future investment reduces. This cannot be sustained in the long term as it reduces the amount available to maintain and improve both homes and the neighbourhood The Board therefore agreed that provision should be made for a CPI October inflation+1% increase for 2024/25 to help claw back some of the lost cash as set out in the September 2023 Business Plan 30-year model. This was upheld last year with the 2024/25 increase being duly approved at 5.6% (4.6% CPI +1%).
| Year | October CPI | Rent Increase |
| 2020/21 | 1.50% | 1.50% |
| 2021/22 | 0.70% | 0% |
| 2022/23 | 4.20% | 2.10% |
| 2023/24 | 11.10% | 5.55% |
| 2024/25 | 4.60% | 5.60% |
What about the increased cost of living?
The increased costs of everyday items continue to affect everyone, and we appreciate that these past couple of years have been particularly challenging. Everyone’s circumstances are different, and we understand that some tenants may be worried about balancing costs with limited money.
The cost of living situation affecting our tenants make it especially critical that our consultation with you tries to find the right balance between rent affordability and the need to maintain our services and continue investing in our homes. This includes things like replacing kitchens and bathrooms, and further improving the energy efficiency of your homes to help limit your energy costs.
For those tenants eligible for assistance with their rent, any rent increase will be reflected within your Housing Benefit or Universal Credit.
What about the increased cost of living?
Our focus has been to support tenants wherever we can. Some of the services to achieve this go above and beyond normal landlord services and include the following services:
- Weekly Welfare Rights Surgeries by the Citizens Advice Bureau at our office providing a wide range of advice and assistance. In 2023/24 our tenants seen financial gains of £275,624.46.
- Weekly bulk uplift collection and clearing fly tipping from the tenement access lanes.
- Garden Maintenance Assistance Scheme for those who are unable to maintain their garden.
- Tenancy Sustainment Fund – which provides items such as food vouchers, energy vouchers, starter packs etc to help those tenants experiencing financial hardship.
To try and help tenants financially we have also recently signed up to Housing Perks which is a mobile app to help improve tenants’ financial wellbeing. It offers discounted vouchers and cashback to tenants of the Co-operative. Tenants can typically save £6-£12 per week on everyday essentials.
Proposed rent increase of 4.05% for 2025/26
The Management Board and staff, supported by our financial consultants FMD Financial Services, held a rent setting meeting on 12th November 2024 to discuss various 2025/26 rent increase scenarios and the impact of those on the Co-operative’s financial plans.
In the tenant survey carried out in November 2024 you advised us that investment in your homes and a high-quality repairs service are your top priorities therefore this has been taken into consideration when arriving at the rent increase proposal.
A rent increase of 4.05% (October CPI 2.30%) is being proposed for 2025/26 in order to maintain our services and continue investing in your homes.
This allows us to continue to provide all current services and ensures the following planned maintenance for 2025/26:
- 49 Kitchens replacements at a cost of £228,577
- 32 Boiler replacements at a cost of £86,400
- 2 Access doors at a cost of £6,372
In addition, the Co-operative has budgeted the following for 2025/26:
- Cyclical Repairs & Planned Repairs (Revenue) - £445,723
- Reactive Repairs including voids - £226,879
This does not include our additional services such as Welfare Rights Surgeries, Tenancy Sustainment Fund and Community Events.
Listening to you
We understand that tenants are facing cost-of-living pressures, managing your money and paying your bills, including your rent so it is important we hear your views. As your landlord, we too are facing challenges around increasing costs and how we deliver services to you. We want to find the right balance between keeping our rents affordable, while still delivering key services and investing in our homes.
This is the start of the consultation period, and it will run from Monday 9th December 2024 until Thursday 9th January 2025.
We are asking tenants to take the time to complete the SurveyMonkey questionnaire which has been issued via text message. You can also use the contact form below to contact us.
We are holding two drop-in sessions at the office on the following dates to answer any questions you may have –
- Tuesday 7th January 2025 between 10am and 11am
- Wednesday 8th January 2025 between 6pm and 7pm
The rent consultation will also be available on Facebook.
Thank you in advance for your participation.
All returned questionnaires will be added into a prize draw with the chance of winning one of two £50 Love2Shop vouchers.
What happens next?
The Management Board will review all feedback and consider the costs of service delivery before making a decision on our 2025/26 rent levels. We will write to you in February 2025 to let you know what your rent and any service charges will be for 2025/26.