Rents and a number of service charges for council housing in the Vale of Glamorgan are going up.
Councillors voted at a meeting on Monday, January 13 to increase rents by 2.7% for 2025/26.
Vale Council argued that the uplift is needed in order to pay for staff, maintain housing and continue support for tenants.
Cabinet members also argued that rents will still be far lower than those in the private sector.
However, this didn’t stop opposition councillors from expressing concerns.
Plaid Cymru group leader, Cllr Ian Johnson, said there was a fair argument to raising rent in line with inflation, but not above it.
At a scrutiny committee meeting last week, Conservative councillor for Rhoose, Cllr William Hennessy, said: “What are we giving the tenants for this increase? We are asking the tenants to have ground maintenance increased by up to £75.50 per year. What do they get for that?"
“They get their grass cut, but not picked up. They get paths with…grass chucked all over it, not blown away or picked up."
“We are paying a contractor to do a job that tenants are paying for. We are asking tenants to pay [for] a door entry system."
“If they live in flats, they do not get a choice in this, so you are asking them to pay for something… they do not get a say in. It has got to be paid for."
“You are asking them for an increase in intercom system, same thing. There is no choice.”
Services for which charges are going up in 2025/26 include grounds maintenance, cleaning of communal areas, lighting of communal area, door entry, work on intercom systems, CCTV and sewarage treatment plants
The maximum allowable uplift for council housing rents set by the Welsh Government for 2025/26 is 2.7%.
A report on the proposed rent increase states that the local authority is “acutely aware of the financial challenges” that tenants face and that decisions on rent increases are “carefully considered” to ensure they remain affordable.
At the same, Plaid Cymru Cllr Amelia Collins, who represents the Castleand ward, said she acknowledged the need to put rents up, but added that she did have concerns about people who may struggle to pay.
Vale Council recently announced that it was also looking at increasing council tax by 6.9% for 2025/26.
Cllr Hennessy said: “Where are people going to get the increased money from? Not all jobs are having an increase in salaries."
“I just cannot support this [rent] increase. I think it is unfair for tenants and I am speaking as a councillor and not a tenant.”
Vale Council’s cabinet member for public sector housing and tenant engagement, Cllr Sandra Perkes, said: “Yes it is an increase [in rent], but it is not a massive increase and I think the actual document demonstrates how much that increase will be and there’s other services that are provided.”
The council’s head of housing and building services, Mike Ingram, also said his staff are finding it difficult to locate affordable private rented accommodation in the area.
He said: “We would struggle to find anything in the private rented sector of an appropriate quality, not even an appropriate quality quite frankly, of anything short of £800 a month at the moment for a three bedroom council house in the Vale.”
The council has also agreed to a number of pledges to assist tenants in financial hardship.
These include no evictions due to financial hardship for the 2025/26 financial year where tenants engage with their landlords, a continuation of targeted support for those experiencing financial hardship, and encouraging tenants to talk to their landlord if they are experiencing financial difficulties.
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