Council’s 20% real terms rent increase will “push more people into poverty” says Moray single mum
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By Abbie Duncan and Ena Saracevic
RESIDENTS in Moray have been left in a state of disbelief, after receiving a letter from the Council, advising they will have to pay up to 20 per cent per month extra for their homes.
The rent increase, which comes into force this month along with a new rental calculation policy, means that some council tenants will receive a real terms rent increase of up to 20 per cent.
At the end of February, Moray Council agreed on a 7.7 per cent increase in rent however, letters sent to council tenants shows that the rent increase has been calculated on their new revised weekly rent, rather than the lower currently weekly rent figure.
The council has attributed this to their new simplified rent setting policy which is being implemented from April 2024. The policy change aims to simplify and make the rental structure fairer by setting out a baseline rent with a points based scheme.
For one single Moray mum, this new policy change and rent increase means her rent each week will increase from £72.96 each week to £86.16, an increase of £52.80 each month.
The mum who preferred to stay anonymous, said: “I actually can’t believe what the letter says to be honest. The Council said the maximum they would raise the rent is 7.7 per cent, but then there is another charge they are adding on anyway, so most people are actually having their rent raised by 20 per cent.”
“My friends, who are also single parents, have had their rent increased by exactly £15 a week, £60 is a lot of money especially as a single parent with kids too.
“That is not money that anyone has extra just now. I would say they are just pushing another whole band of people into poverty, people will not be able to afford food because of this.”
Moray Council said that the rent increase was to keep up with rising costs and maintain housing to the required standard.
A Moray Council spokesperson said: “Our average rent levels remain lower than all other Scottish local authorities and considerably below private rents and are deemed to be affordable across the range for property types and sizes.”
Another Moray woman, who also wished to remain anonymous, has lived in her council house for 10 years. She lives with her daughter and son and is facing a rent increase from £76.87 to £91.30 per week despite more than a decade of neglect to her home.
Since she has moved into her home, she has had issues with her windows which have heavily impacted the heating.
The woman reported having to wake up everyday to wipe down the windows in the hopes of stopping the damp. She also emphasised the financial impact the rise in rent will have on her and how other houses on her street have insulation cladding but council houses, like her own, do not.
She said: “At the time [I moved in] I asked if the windows were going to get replaced and was told that they would be done in the next three years. Ten years down the line I’m still waiting for my windows.”
The state of the windows, and the rising energy prices, have made her scared to put the heating on. Although the Council did send someone to repair the windows, they were assessed to be broken beyond repair.
When her house started having damp, she contacted the council again for help but they said they couldn’t do anything as it was because she wasn’t turning the heating on.
She added: “Then I contacted my local councillor and he said that they’d get it done by 2023. Here I am in 2024 still waiting for my windows to be fixed, and now the rent has been increased.
“I phoned not that long ago to talk to my housing officer, and she said that there was nothing she could do and it wasn’t anything to do with her.
“As far as I can get from the council, they are more worried about rent arrears than fixing properties.”
