NI Housing Executive announces increase in rent for all tenants

The Housing Executive says it will be contacting its tenants over the next weeks about their annual rent charges, which will increase by 2.7% from April.

This 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 which come into effect on April 7, and what they need to do.

Housing Executive Chief Executive, Grainia Long, 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.

READ MORE: Minister announces removal of intimidation points from NI Housing Selection Scheme

READ MORE: Stormont Minister pledges £1m support following Storm Eowyn

"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."

A spokesperson for the Housing Executive added: "Approximately 80% of Housing Executive tenants receive full or partial Housing Benefit support or Universal Credit towards their rent. Last year, rents increased by 7.7% - an average of £5.72 per week."

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.