Asking council tenants for their views on a rent increase is like ‘asking a turkey about Christmas dinner’ it has been claimed.
Midlothian councillors were asked to approve plans to consult current tenants and people on the housing waiting list about proposed annual rent rises of between 4.77 per cent and 5.84 per cent for the next three years.
However Councillor David Virgo questioned the decision to restrict the survey to tenants and future tenants of the council instead of the wider public during a meeting of Midlothian Council this morning.
He told the meeting: “I see that the Scottish housing regulator recommends we consult council tenants on rent increases and I understand why but in my head you are asking a turkey about Christmas dinner.
“I do not mean any slight and I am not comparing anyone to turkeys but it feels like you are asking people who have a very specific interest in what the answer will be.
“I wonder if we should be looking beyond just our council tenants and prospective people about whether council rents should increase or not, I feel all council residents have an interest in this as well and simply restricting it to the people who would benefit or not from an increase feels to me like a slightly pointless consultation.”
However the council’s executive director place, Kevin Anderson said he had found in the past tenants understood that the consultation was about what they expected from their housing service and the response from tenants “usually gets to a middling ground”.
The council currently has 7670 houses along with a waiting list of 6360 applicants all of whom will be invited to take part in the online survey with paper copies available on request.
The rent increases are presented alongside the number of new properties they would allow the council to build on top of carrying out maintenance work and upgrading the current stock.
A 4.77 per cent increase would allow no new houses going up to 5.84 per cent allowing 500 new houses to be built.
Councillor Stephen Curran asked for a question to be added to the survey asking tenants if they opted for a higher rent to allow new homes to be built whether the future housing should be restricted to Midlothian residents or those with a strong link to the county only.
He said: “It is really prompted by request I have had and I am sure most of us have had with regards to who is being allocated council houses and I think it is fair to ask that question at this time in the consultation.
“In terms of legalities and what we can actually do in practice would be an issue for our allocations policy and that is something we can discuss on reflection once we are informed of the consultation result.”
Councillors unanimously agreed to give officer the go ahead to launch the rent consultation along with the added question over allocating housing.
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
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