Login
0800 854568
It’s that time of year when ateb starts to consider our annual rent charges with a view to increasing rent from April 2022.
As our customers will know, ateb has adopted the Living Rent methodology to ensure our rents are affordable. Living Rent establishes a link between rents and customers’ ability to pay them. It is aimed at ensuring that our rents are genuinely affordable for customers on low incomes. The methodology was published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the National Housing Federation in 2015. It was designed on the basis that it is unaffordable for tenants to spend more than a third of their net income on household costs. We aim to ensure that in the majority of cases the rent you pay for your home should be no more than 28% of average household income, 33% where service charges are included.
We are in year 3 of a 5-year rent settlement agreed by the Welsh Government, which enables a maximum rent increase of Consumer Price Index plus 1% (based on September CPI figures). However given that inflation has caused CPI to increase to 3.1% in September, landlords have been advised by Welsh Government to increase their rents by a maximum of CPI only. On this basis, we are proposing to increase the majority of our rents by 3.1% from April, at the same time ensuring that all rents remain within the Living Rent threshold.
In the last 2 years ateb has increased rents by CPI only and frozen some rents, and not increased rents by the maximum allowable under the Welsh Government rent settlement. We did this as we understood that it was a difficult time for people and rent increases were never popular. However, applying a rent increase of 3.1% from April, and following the same principle of increasing rents by CPI only, will enable us to continue investing in our properties. It will also enable us to continue providing all of our additional services to support customers and communities and build new homes.
We’d really appreciate your views, comments or suggestions on our proposals.
You can email any comments to our Engage Co-ordinator Ailinor Evans at [email protected]
Please provide any comments by Wednesday 25th January 2022.
