asked the Minister for the Environment the criteria he used in arriving at the decision to put a flat £3 increase on all local authority rents; and if he is aware that this has meant a 40 per cent increase for very many old tenants.
Written Answers. - Local Authority Rent Increase.
226.
The new national differential rent scheme, which was agreed prior to its implementation with the National Association of Tenants' Organisations, does not provide for a flat £3 increase in all local authority rents but for a graded scale under which rents are related to income and family circumstances. Where a rent calculated in accordance with the scale would exceed the maximum rent applicable to the relevant housing scheme (which is calculated by reference to the up-dated cost of providing the dwelling), the new rent is limited to the amount of such maximum rent. Further, as a concession to tenants on maximum rents, the new scheme provides that no tenant will be required to pay a maximum rent that is more than £3 greater than the maximum applying to him under the previous scheme. The Deputy will appreciate in the circumstances that the purpose of the £3 limit is to ensure that a tenant, who otherwise would have to pay, on the basis of his family income and circumstances, a rent increase in excess of £3, has the amount of such increases reduced to that figure.