Purpose

To set Affordable Rents for council
properties for the purpose of lettings to new tenants at the same
value as Affordable rents charged to existing tenants for
2023/24.  This is a 7% increase against
the 2022/23 Affordable rent value and therefore the same as the
increase for social rents (subject to a separate Council
decision).
 
The Council has 223 existing Affordable rent
properties.  The decision will not
impact on the Affordable rent value for existing
tenants.  It will impact new tenants
when the property is re-let. 

Decision

RECORD OF OFFICER EXECUTIVE DECISION
 

Date of Decision:

03 March 2023

Decision Maker:
(Including Job
Title)

Ian Spicer
Strategic Director, Adult Care,
Housing and Public Health

Specific Delegation:
(If any)

Council Meeting 22 January 2020,
agenda item 12:

4.    
That all Affordable Rent properties be revalued in
October and March each year to provide a valid rent value for when
Affordable Rent properties are relet.

Brief Description of
Decision:
 

To set Affordable Rents for council
properties for the purpose of lettings to new tenants at the same
value as Affordable rents charged to existing tenants for
2023/24.  This is a 7% increase against
the 2022/23 Affordable rent value and therefore the same as the
increase for social rents (subject to a separate Council
decision).
The Council has 223 existing
Affordable rent properties.  The
decision will not impact on the Affordable rent value for existing
tenants.  It will impact new tenants
when the property is re-let. 

Reasons for the Decision:
 
 

Government Legislation dictates that Affordable rents must be
re-assessed every time that an Affordable rent property is re-let
to a new tenant to ensure that the Affordable rent remains no
higher than 80% of the market rent for a similar property in that
location. 
At
the Council meeting on 22 January 2020 it was agreed that this
would be achieved by undertaking an assessment of all Affordable
rent properties bi-annually, rather than having individual
valuations each time the property became vacant.  Agenda item 12, Recommendation 4:
That all
Affordable Rent properties be revalued in October and March each
year to provide a valid rent value for when Affordable Rent
properties are relet.
To
meet this requirement a desktop exercise is undertaken in March and
October each year to review whether the current Affordable rent
value charged to existing tenants for each property remains within
80% of the market rent for similar properties in the
Borough.
The
exercise in February 2023 has concluded that based on market rent
average values on Hometrack for Rotherham the actual current
Affordable rents for 2023/24 are within 80% of market rent values
and will be used as the re-let value for these
properties.

Details of alternative options
considered and rejected:

Increase affordable rents for re-let
properties by CPI+1% to match the normal approach taken for formula
rent. This would result in an 11.1% increase.  This is not recommended as it would result in the
rents for some properties on re-let being higher than 80% of Market
rents.  This would not meet Government
policy for Affordable rent values at re-let.

Conflicts of interest declared by any
Executive Member consulted by the decision maker which relates to
the decision:

No conflicts of interest
declared.

Dispensations Granted:
(If any)

N/A.

Reports or parts of reports
considered

HRA Rents and Charges Cabinet report
– 13th February 2023. 
Paragraph 2.1.7

 
I certify that this
is a true record of the Executive Decision in relation to
the Affordable rent values to be used for new
tenants on re-letting Affordable rent properties.
 
Signed by the Decision
Maker                                    
Dated:  31/03/2023
Name:  Ian Spicer
 
                         
Job Title: Strategic Director
of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health