THOUSANDS of residents could face a hike in council house rents in Wrexham.
Wrexham Council officers are recommending the authority approves a council house rent increase of 5.45 per cent to an average of £73.55 per week, which will affect residents at its 11,500 properties in the next financial year.
Other charges including garage rents and plots, heating charges and travellers plot charges, are set to increase by the same amount.
The proposed rise, which forms part of the authority’s housing revenue account (HRA) budget and rent setting for 2012-13, will be assessed by the authority’s executive board on Tuesday and follows Welsh Government guidelines.
A spokesman for Wrexham Council said: “The Welsh Government sets a guideline rent for all councils in Wales.
“For Wrexham County Borough Council, the average guideline will increase by 5.45 per cent to £73.55 per week (collected over 48 weeks).
“Under the Welsh Government’s housing finance rules, the council has little choice but to set rents at the guideline figure, otherwise there will be financial penalties on the council.”
The spokesman said that, under the same rules, the council still has to pay £11.53 million of the £39 million rent money it collects each year via the Welsh Government to HM Treasury.
Although residents will face the increased rent costs, the council is promising to spend the increased sum on improvements and repairs to council properties.
“The rent increase means the council will be able to spend the additional money on the repair and improvement of its council houses, with increased expenditure on day to day repairs,” added the spokesman.
“The council’s management and maintenance costs are being maintained at a low level, below that set by the Welsh Government.
“This allows for a significant contribution of £5.5 million to support the proposed housing improvement programme of £13.1 million.”
The spokesman said this figure is still below what is needed to bring all houses up to the required standard.