The Gospel Oak District Management Committee met to discuss the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget for 2025/2026, including proposed rent and service charge increases. The committee also planned to review a list of registered Tenant and Resident Associations (TRAs) in the Gospel Oak ward.

Housing Revenue Account Budget 2025/2026

The report pack included a draft of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget for 2025/2026 for discussion.

The document proposed that rents be increased by 2.7% in line with the government's rent cap. The document states that Under the current rent standard, the Council can increase rents up to a maximum of inflation (Sept CPI 1.7%) plus 1%= 2.7%. ¹ The report pack also includes an impact assessment of the impact of this rent rise on average rents for different sizes of properties.

The report pack proposed an increase to most service charges to fund the cost of providing these services.² For example, the proposed increase to the caretaking service charge is 5%, and the proposed increase to the grounds maintenance service charge is 12%. However, a freeze to communal lighting charges was proposed to reflect falling electricity prices. The report pack explains that if these increases were not agreed to, the services would have to be scaled back.

The report pack also sets out a number of proposed savings that could be made by the council. These include:

• Increasing the MTFS savings target for leaseholders by £0.3m by ensuring that all rechargeable costs are passed on.
• Increasing the MTFS savings target for bad debt provision by £0.1m through interventions such as the use of software to increase collection rates for rent arrears.
• Increasing the MTFS savings target for commercial property income by £0.06m based on the overperformance of this target in 2024/2025.
• Increasing the MTFS savings target for efficiencies within property management by £0.14m by removing the budget for vacant posts that are no longer required.

The report pack makes it clear that these savings will not impact services or put jobs at risk.

Registration of Tenant and Resident Associations and Co-option of Representatives

A list of registered Tenant and Resident Associations (TRAs) in the Gospel Oak ward was included in the report pack. The list includes the names of representatives from each TRA, the names of their substitutes and the date of their last AGM. The document states that:

If a TRA wishes to register it must hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM), open to all members, once a year (with an independent observer in attendance). The minutes must be sent to the Tenant Participation Service together with a membership list and a completed registered form.

The report pack explains that the list of registered TRAs may be updated at the meeting to reflect any changes.