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Getting Good Value from Rent and Service Charges

Getting Good Value from Rent and Service Charges

This section covers value for money, rents and service charges.

Value for Money Standard

Following the review by the Council and in consultation with our tenants, the average weekly rent increase applied for financial year 2024-25 was 6.7% compared to the Scottish Local Authority average 5.6%.

Percentage of tenants who feel their rent represents good value for money

The latest Tenant Satisfaction and Aspiration Survey shows that there has been a large increase in the percentage of tenants who feel their rent represents good value for money in comparison to the 2019 survey. The figure is also significantly higher in comparison to the Scottish Local Authority average. Our average weekly rent is £85.62 and is slightly higher than the Scottish Local Authority average of £84.31. Together with our tenants we are currently in the process of reviewing our rent setting to make sure that the charging system is simple, fair and consistent and keeps representing the best value for money for all our tenants.

Average time in calendar days taken to re-let properties

There has been a significant rise in the average number of days taken to re-let our properties from the 2022/23 reporting period. However, the increase is still lower in comparison to the Scottish Local Authority average which also saw an increase from the last reporting year.

The rise can be explained by the repairs service facing resourcing pressures. To alleviate the pressures, an external contractor was brought in to assist with bringing our void properties back to use. While the performance was initially slower than expected, in recent times the team have managed to refurbish and re-let some of our longer-standing void properties. Subsequently, this has led to an increase in average re-let times. As the number of our void properties are coming down, we are expecting our re-let times to reduce as well.

Rents and Service Charges Standard

Rent collected

Performance in rent collection has seen an improvement from last year and is now almost in line with the Scottish Local Authority average. Our Housing Officers work hard to engage with the tenants and ensure that they pay their rent on time. The staff will work with tenants to try to deal with any rent issues at the outset once they are discovered.

Rent Arrears

There has been a slight reduction in rent arrears from the previous reporting period. We acknowledge that the cost-of-living crisis has impacted some of our tenants’ ability to pay rent on time. If tenants struggle with arrears, our Housing Officers will work closely with our tenants to help them make manageable debt payments. If required, housing officers can also signpost tenants to available support services to help reduce rent arrears.

Void Rent Loss

There has been an increase in rent lost due to properties being empty in comparison to last year which can be attributed to an increase in our property re-let times. On average, we turn over 350-400 empty properties every year, and such turnover will have an impact on void rent loss. However, we aim to focus on improving re-let times which, in turn, should reduce and minimise the associated rent lost due to empty propertes.

Former Tenant arrears written off

In April, we filled three new job posts dedicated to managing tenant debts. The appointed officers have worked to clear administrative backlog associated with tenancy-related debts, including former tenant arrears. As a consequence, reporting year 2023/24 saw an increase in the amount of former tenant arrears written off which were not previously collected. With the new posts in place, it is expected that the service will be able to manage and collect former tenant arrears more effectively and reduce the amount of arrears needing to be written off.