More Shropshire social housing rents up by £5-a-week

Thousands of social housing tenants across Shropshire are facing a rent hike of up to £286-a-year, it was revealed today.

Bosses of three of the county's largest housing associations – Severnside Housing, Bromford Group and the Wrekin Housing Trust – want to increase rents on their 18,000 properties by either 6.1 or 6.2 per cent – an average of £5.50 a week – from April.

The increase is being blamed on Government guidelines introduced in 2002 which means rental rates are based on inflation from the previous year plus 0.5 per cent.

Severnside which has more than 5,300 homes in the Shrewsbury area, will ask tenants for an extra 6.1 per cent in rent and Bromford Living, part of Bromford Group, is raising rents by 6.2 per cent for its 1,100 county homes.

The Wrekin Housing Trust, with 12,000 houses, bungalows and flats in Telford, Newport, Market Drayton, Shrewsbury and Staffordshire, will hike rents by 6.1 per cent.

Peter Donovan, director of finance at Severnside Housing, said: "We will do everything we can to minimise the impact."

Nick Cummins, executive director at Bromford, said: "The increase is in line with Government guidelines. We are confident that these remain affordable for our customers."

Wayne Gethings, from Wrekin Housing, said: "All social housing rents are converging towards target rents and as such our annual rent increases are imposed by government."

See also:

• Council house rents up £5 a week