In November 2022, Minister for Climate Change in Wales, Julie James, who is responsible for housing, announced that in the new financial year (2023 to 2024), landlords in Wales would be allowed to increase the rent they charge by a maximum of 6.5%, which is considerably below inflation that is currently 10.7%. This is known as the rent settlement.   

The rent settlement also sets out the Ministers agreement on:

  • Protecting and enhancing the provision of good quality housing and vital tenant support services.
  • Building on existing engagement with tenants in rent-setting decisions, including explaining how income from rent is invested and spent.
  • Carrying out further work to develop a consistent approach to assessing affordability across the social housing sector in Wales.

The Minister said she understands that any rent increase at this time will negatively impact tenants and Landlords should help people who are struggling.

How much will our rent increase?

After long discussions about the impact of the cost of living on our customers and to ensure we continue to deliver services to tenants and repair and maintain the housing stock, the Tai Calon Board approved a rent increase for next year of 6.5%. They also agreed that we should continue to offer as much support as possible for people that need it the most, plus our rents will still be amongst the lowest in Wales.

Over the last 12 to 18 months, we have all been impacted by the cost of living crisis. We’ve seen big increases in energy costs, fuel and food.

Tai Calon has not been immune from the impact of this crisis, where we have seen:

  • The costs of repairs and improvements increase by between 15% to 30%
  • Energy costs have more than doubled
  • Fuel to keep our vans on the road has increased by 30%

These were unplanned increases to our costs, adding up to millions of pounds.

While we have managed to prevent or offset the majority of these increases, we need to increase rents in line with the guidance from Welsh Government. This will protect the services we deliver to customers, as well as the financial future of Tai Calon and help us to achieve the objectives set out in our Corporate Plan.

The rising cost of living can be incredibly worrying if you have problems paying your bills and/or rent, but help and advice are available. Welsh Government have put together a webpage full of information about where to get help and advice: https://gov.wales/get-help-cost-living.

We will soon send letters explaining the rent increase and how it will affect our customers. If you have any concerns or need help paying rent, please contact our Rent & Income Team on 0300 303 1717 or email talktous@taicalon.org.

How we spend the rent, we collect

As set out in our Annual Review for 2021/22, the table below shows where we spent the money we collected. Over 57% of our income is spent on repairs and improvements to homes, and last year we fixed nearly 15,000 repairs.