The Government recently introduced a new policy on how rents should be set by local authorities and registered social landlords.
The stated objectivesof this policy are:
- rents should remain affordable in the long term
- rents should be fairer and less confusing for tenants
- there should be a closer link between rents and the qualities that tenants value in properties
- unjustifiable differences between the rents set by local authorities and by registered social landlords should be removed over ten years.
How are the new rents calculated?
The Government requires all local authorities to calculate the rent for each of their properties according to a set formula.
This formula takes into account:
- the market value of the individual property in January 1999 compared to the national average value for other local authority properties
- the number of bedrooms in the property, and
- average earnings of manual workers in the county compared to national average earnings.
More information
Please see the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister website.