Rent Review 2025/26

Dear Tenant

It is that time of year again, when we consult on a rent increase which will ensure that we can provide services and maintain your home for the following year. As ever, this is a big decision which impacts all customers and therefore it is important that you provide feedback.

Thank you to those who responded to our rent review last year. We received 458 responses, of which 89% came electronically. However, this is not quite 20% of our tenant base so it would be great to hear back from more of you.

The leaflet below will provide you with information about this year's rent review process and our proposal for 2025/26. When deciding on the rent increase, our Board will consider feedback received from this consultation as well as market conditions. Any increase agreed, will be effective from 1st April 2025, we will however write to you at least 28 days in advance of this date to inform you of your new rental charges.

The challenging financial climate has continued to impact costs over the past 12 months and whilst September saw a larger than anticipated dip in inflation to 1.7%, current projections indicate that inflation is likely to be around 3% in April 2025.

You may recall that last year we implemented an increase of 5.4%, which we required in response to the discovery of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (or RAAC as it’s often known) in some of our properties. This increase, whilst higher than the previous few years (where we applied below inflation increases), was still significantly below the average of many other landlords in the sector. We generally maintain salary increases equal to, or below, our rent increase and last year this was a significantly lower figure alongside other cost cutting measures, introduced to minimise the impact of rising costs on customers.

Having reviewed the current financial position of the organisation, the projected inflationary rate (as outlined above) and to ensure that we can maintain the level of service we currently provide, we are proposing options of 4% & 4.8%.

Further details regarding the proposed options are outlined within the leaflet. We will be sending out an electronic survey shortly to gather your your preferences. As always you can contact us via email: enquiries@almondha.org.uk

The deadline for responses is Friday 20th December 2024.

To give you an idea of the rise in costs over the last three years:

The Real Living Wage is the minimum our contractors pay their workers.