This meeting was an opportunity for the Kentish Town District Management Committee to consider the Housing Revenue Account budget for 2025/26 and proposals for rent and service charge increases. The meeting also included the formal registration of the tenants and residents associations that are represented on the committee.

Housing Revenue Account Budget 2025/26

The main agenda item was a report from the Director of Finance, Daniel Omisore, that set out the proposed Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget for 2025/26. The report explained that the budget would need to cover the cost of a number of pressures including inflation, the cost of complying with new regulations like the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023¹, and the cost of replenishing the HRA reserve. The report proposed that these pressures should be funded by an increase in Council tenants' rents of 2.7%, the maximum permitted under the Government's rent standard.

The report argues that:

The rent standard recognises that the HRA needs to be able to fund more than inflation each year to operate due to being ringfenced and without external funding...

In the event that the rent increase was not approved, the report asked the committee to consider which other areas of the budget should be cut.

The report also asked the committee to consider a set of increases to the service charges paid by council tenants, with the largest increases for grounds maintenance (12%), responsive housing patrol (7%) and CCTV (7%).

The final element of the report asked the committee to consider a proposal to reduce the cost of the council's heating charges by 35%, funded from the HRA reserve.

Registration of Tenants and Residents Associations

The final item on the agenda was the registration of tenants and residents associations² to allow them to participate in the District Management Committee. Appendix A of the agenda listed the associations scheduled to be registered. Appendix B of the agenda listed the associations whose registrations had lapsed. The following tenants and residents associations were scheduled for registration:

• Brookfield Estate TRA
• Camden Association of Street Properties (Kentish Town)
• Camden Square Area TRA
• Carrol Close and Sanderson Close TRA
• Holly Lodge TRA
• Ingestre Road TRA
• Kenbrook House TRA
• Kennistoun, Willingham, Rosemary & Margaret TA
• Leighton Crescent TRA
• Lissenden Gardens TRA
• Maiden Lane TRA
• Peckwater TRA
• Raglan Estate TRA
• Spencer Rise & Churchill Road Estate
• St Pancras Way Est TRA
• Torriano Estate TRA
• Whittington Estate RA

The following tenants and residents association's registrations had lapsed:

• Highgate Road TRA