Rents may rise by 6.2%.

Stirling Council is set to propose that rents for the year 2012/13 increase by 6.2%. This would mean an average rise by £3 - £5 depending on your size of home that you live in.

The Council are set to embark on their annual round of consultations with tenants to gather views on the likelihood of such a rise and what it will mean for tenants. 

 As part of the expenditure proposals, kitchen/bathroom replacement will continue as in previous years and there will be a £2.5 million investment in new technology power source (see below). There will also be a proposal to increase spending on the Mortgage to Rent scheme up to £1million. (The scheme has been operational within the Council for a few years - it involves the Council buying back former Council properties sold under the right to buy scheme - and so far expenditure has cost the Council £300,000 per year). Mortgage to rent is helping those who have fallen on hard times and may be under threat of losing their home from repossession. If the Council does buy it back, former owners are then allowed to rent the property fom the Council.

There will be no additional spend on kitchens and bathrooms.  Also there will be a further £2million spend on building more new homes.

Consultations will begin as soon as possible, when the fine details are available, but the first meeting is set for 26th November 2011. Watch this space for more details.

New Technology Power Source.

The Council are concerned at the soaring costs of heating homes and have been looking at ways of assisting tenants in preventing fuel poverty.  Fuel poverty is where tenants have to spend more than 10% of their income to heat their homes.

The Council have decided on a pilot scheme to introduce a new power sourcing into homes called photovoltaic panels.  This is super-duper solar panel system that does not just rely on the sun to work but works with light sensitive panels.  It is cheaper to operate in the long-term and contributes to the national electricty grid also thus saving money for tenants.  But don't rub your hands just yet, as it will take up to 15years to pay the cost of the system before you see any real savings from it.

The Stirling Tenants Assembly have not yet discussed the details but are awaiting trials to begin, and will comment further on this website later once these details are known.

It has been announced by the UK Government that future subsidies towards this type of investment idea will be cut by half, so that the idea may not be so profitable after all. Fantastic!