Council leader Barry Rawlings described the increase as a “correction” as rates had previously been forced down by government, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Rent for council tenants in Barnet is set to go up after the town hall approved an increase.

From April, rent for all Barnet Homes dwellings will rise by 2.7%.

In a report presented to the council’s cabinet yesterday (Wednesday 5th) it was stated that between 2016 and 2020 central government reduced the rent administerable by social housing landlords by 1% each year.

This policy, referred to as the ‘social rent reduction’, formed part of the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016. The impact was estimated to be a “£6.1m reduction in income per annum”.

The council said that, consequently, “rental income has not matched the demand of maintaining existing housing services”.

According to the council, tenant rents make up 84% of all annual income received into its housing revenue account (HRA) and must pay for the “core housing services” delivered by Barnet Homes and “ongoing debt repayment” and charges.

An increase in temporary accommodation rents for those charged less than the current local housing allowance (LHA) rates will commence with the rents either “increased by 10%, or up to LHA rate”.

The service charges paid by people living in council-owned housing blocks will also rise by 4.9%.

The increases are projected to generate around £2.2m for Barnet Council’s 2025/26 budget.

The impact of service change rises on council tenants will be mitigated, the report states, as many are covered by housing benefits, with “over two-thirds” of council tenants receiving either “full or partial” support. However, nearly one third do not receive this.

The additional money will assist the council in generating “sufficient income” in order to carry out “needed essential investment works in properties”. The income will also help secure the delivery of new affordable homes.

At Wednesday’s meeting, cabinet member for regeneration and housing, Ross Houston, said: “Nobody likes rent increases but one of the most damaging things that affected affordable housing was the rent freeze that was put in place.

“I think you can have a discussion about how you fund council housing, and that’s a separate matter, but if you’re funding it out of council rents which is the system that has been in place for decades, having a freeze basically gutted the delivery of new affordable housing and it was an absolutely disastrous policy.”

Council leader Barry Rawlings described the increases as a “correction”, while Zahra Beg, the cabinet member for equalities, asked what mitigations were in place for vulnerable tenants.

In terms of tenant support, Shaun McLean, the group director of resources at the Barnet Group, which runs Barnet Homes, said there were “targeted campaigns” taking place, a dedicated team set up to carry out “early intervention work”, and an equality, diversity, and inclusion champion “understanding data to help identify areas of focus”.

A previous version of this story referred to a £329,000 figure which is the money raised from the increase of temporary accommodation rents rather than the total for all of the price increases, which is £2.2million.

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