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Rents in Northern Ireland to rise by 7.7% from April
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) has announced it will raise its rents by 7.7% from April.
The increase was revealed in a Department for Communities (DfC) announcement on Friday, in response to NIHE’s annual request for a rent increase.
The NIHE manages most of the social homes – around 85,000 – in Northern Ireland. The remaining properties are managed by housing associations.
The rise equates to an average additional £5.72 per week, increasing average weekly rent from £74.24 to £79.96. This is in line with England, where a 7.7% social rent cap for 2024-25 was announced earlier this month.
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The NIHE rents increased by 7% at the start of the current financial year in April 2023. Before that, rents had been frozen for five of the previous seven years, and the NIHE estimated these rent freezes had resulted in £96m of lost income.
The DfC said this year’s rent increase will fund “essential maintenance, improvements and investment”, while also “keeping the rent affordable for tenants”.
Tenant affordability is the department’s “key consideration”, it said. Since 79% of NIHE tenants are currently receiving housing assistance, they will be “protected from the impact” of the rent increase.
For the other 21% of tenants not receiving housing assistance, the impact of the increase was modelled across a range of household scenarios, “all of which demonstrated its affordability”.
NIHE it will also provide advice to tenants on benefits, budgeting and where to receive financial support.
Earlier this month, the Social Housing Action Campaign accused English officials of trying to sneak out a “sharp hike” in rents during an election year. This is because the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities only confirmed the rise by updating its website and did not share the news with the press ahead of time.
Meanwhile, housing advice charity Housing Rights warned this week that the cost of living crisis is putting many households in Northern Ireland at risk of homelessness. A drastic increase in food and fuel costs, mortgage interest rates and rents have all meant that many people across the country are struggling to pay their bills.
The charity explained that it is seeing a spike in requests from both homeowners and renters who are due in court for repossession hearings. This is reflected in the latest court statistics which showed a 76% quarterly increase in mortgage possession actions.
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