RENT for Housing Executive tenants is set to increase by 2.7 per cent from April 7.
The rise equates to an increase of £2.16 on the average weekly rent and will bring the average rent for a Housing Executive home to £82.05 a week, excluding rates.
Each tenant will receive a letter over the next few weeks advising of their new rent charges, and what they need to do.
Housing Executive Chief Executive, Grainia Long, Chief Executive, said: “Rent pays for essential high-quality customer and neighbourhood services as well as ongoing maintenance of our homes and significant improvement work. The increase goes straight back into our houses and our tenant services.
“We plan to spend over £287m next year in improving and maintaining our homes, this is an increase of £37m on last year, with more than a quarter of our homes being upgraded with work programmes.
“Importantly, £49m of this will go to installing new energy efficient measures in over 10,000 of our homes.
“We understand that any increase in rent may be challenging for some tenants and we have a dedicated financial inclusion team to ensure we have right support in place. We encourage any tenant who is having difficulty paying their rent, to contact us immediately for assistance and advice.
“We would also reassure tenants that we will only take legal action in circumstances where rent is not fully paid and a tenant refuses to engage with us. We have included details of how to get in touch and the help available in our letter to each tenant.”
Last year rents increased by 7.7 per cent – an average of £5.72 per week.
