Council house rents in Kirklees are set to rise in April

Tenants will also pay their rents weekly, not monthly.

The move, expected to be agreed at Kirklees Council’s decision-making cabinet next week, means a tenant would pay an average weekly rent of £74.09 in 2022/23.

Garage rents are also set to go up by between 2p and 84p a week.

There will also be rises in extra care services including intensive housing management, which will go up between 98p and £2.50 a week, and the night care service, which will increase by £1.19 a week.

The increases come as the council faces a bill of almost £90m to pay for improvements to its housing stock to ensure properties comply with fire safety regulations.

Local authorities such as Kirklees were forced to cut social housing rents in 2016.

The Government’s demand for a one per cent rent cut each year until March 2020 shaved off millions in income that council finance bosses had not planned for.

In the case of Kirklees the forced reduction meant the council lost £24.3m from its housing revenue account – money that would have been spent on servicing its housing stock.

Coun Cathy Scott, the council’s cabinet member for housing and democracy, said changing tenants’ payments from weekly to monthly would “help them budget more efficiently”.

She said the council was driving forward with its house-building programme to meet the demand for social housing in the borough.