COUNCIL tenants in Rowley Regis, Cradley Heath, Blackheath and Oldbury are set to rise by nearly ten per cent.

Sandwell Council have announced they are hiking council housing rents and have blamed changed to the benefit system and the Government withdrawing Decent Homes cash which paid for housing improvements.

Council chiefs are being recommended to approve an average rent rise of 9.6 per cent from April.

Councillor Steve Eling, the council’s deputy leader, said: “It’s extremely regrettable that we have to put up rents by this much but it’s unavoidable.

“The Government has taken away Decent Homes funding, they've altered the rules around people buying their council home and they’re changing the way housing benefit is paid, which all impacts on the budget.

“This has put us in a financial straitjacket. We have to balance the books by law and we can’t use other council funds to invest in council housing, so we have no other choice.”

Councillor Eling added: “The new weekly average bill of £84.61 still compares favourably with privately rented homes, where private tenants typically pay at least £114 a week.

“And we are keeping rises as low as possible by bringing back Sandwell Homes, cutting management costs and duplication of ‘back room’ services, and ploughing those savings into improving homes and frontline services.”

Tenants’ rent rises will vary depending on the size of their home. The average increase will be around £7.40 extra per week over a 48-week rent year.

Councillor Simon Hackett, cabinet member for housing, said the extra cash from rents would help pay for badly-needed improvements to council homes that tenants wanted.

He said it was vital to keep investing in improvements and building new homes to help meet growing demand.

He said: “Despite the Government scrapping Decent Homes funding, we are committed to providing good quality, warm and energy efficient homes for current and future generations of council tenants.

He added: “We will be carrying out ‘energy efficiency’ improvements to help chop tenants’ fuel bills.

“And we are building new council homes every year for the first time in a generation, including much-wanted bungalows for older people, which will in turn free up bigger homes for families on the waiting list.”

The rent levels are set to be agreed by Councillor Eling and Councillor Hackett next week.