Leitrim tenants facing rent increases told scheme will not be changed

There are no plans in the short term to review the new Differential Rent Scheme introduced by Leitrim County Council, which was the first rent review in 17 years.

The review has resulted in significant rent increases for some local authority tenants, with some seeing their rent double or even triple.

Meetings and protests have been held by affected tenants calling for changes to the scheme, particularly a reduction in the current 18 per cent charge on assessable income to 15 per cent. Under the scheme, rent is calculated based on household income, with 18 per cent of the principal earner’s weekly assessable income charged, along with 10 per cent of the weekly assessable income of subsidiary earners.

At the November meeting of Leitrim County Council, the issue was raised in a motion by Cllr Cormac Flynn, who called on the council to review the scheme and consider a broader range of social and personal circumstances when assessing council rents.

These included the number of dependants in a household, single-person households, the age, condition and energy efficiency of the dwelling, and additional costs arising from disability, illness or caring responsibilities.

In an official response, Director of Services for Housing, Mary Quinn, said the scheme had been developed after detailed consideration to deliver a “fair and transparent scheme”, with rent levels based on the assessable income entering each household. She confirmed that there were no plans to revisit the details of the new scheme.

The response also stated that the income generated through the scheme would support housing service delivery, with particular emphasis on maintenance and retrofitting programmes.

It added that the Housing Section was “committed” to working constructively with tenants experiencing financial difficulties, with hardship applications submitted through the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) being considered “sympathetically.”

Cllr Flynn acknowledged the work involved in developing the new scheme and the importance of rental income in supporting housing maintenance. However, he said his motion was “about ensuring that the scheme remains fair and responsive to the realities faced by council tenants.”

He pointed out that, as the scheme is largely income-based, households can face very different financial pressures despite having similar incomes.

He gave the examples of a household with three children, a person living alone, a family caring for a loved one and an individual living with a disability.

“Introducing or reviewing measures such as dependant allowances, single-person allowances, disability-related allowances or energy-efficiency considerations would help ensure that rents are assessed on a household's actual ability to pay, rather than income alone,” said Cllr Flynn.

He continued, “While hardship applications are welcome, they are by nature reactive,” and called for consideration to be given to building these factors into the scheme before families reach a point of financial hardship, rather than relying on support being available afterwards.

“Ultimately, this is about poverty-proofing our rent system, supporting vulnerable tenants, and ensuring that no household is placed under unnecessary financial strain because their individual circumstances are not adequately recognised,” he added.

Responding to Cllr Flynn at the meeting, Ms Quinn said, “We consider we have delivered a fair scheme. The challenge for us was that there had been no review for so many years which left the baseline low. I appreciate there are situations where people have had a significant rise in the rent payable but we have a hardship process in place.”

She said hardship applications processed through MABS were being reviewed “sympathetically and empathetically.”

Addressing the allowances referred to by Cllr Flynn, including those for people living with disabilities or on their own, Ms Quinn said that was what the social welfare system was designed to address.

“There’s a plethora of allowances through the social welfare system to address those issues. As things evolve at a national and regional level, other factors may come into play but we believe it to be a fair scheme,” she said.

Ms Quinn also revealed that more than 60 per cent of local authority tenants had complied with the review and were paying their new rents.

She advised those who had decided not to pay the revised rents to reconsider their position, warning that the Housing Department would be focusing on the collection of rent arrears.

“We don’t want a situation where that disimproves because we have a very good rent collection rate and want to maintain that,” she said.

Ms Quinn added, “We’re going to have to agree to disagree. The scheme is in place and there’s no plans in the short term to change it, in exception of dealing with people in relation to hardship cases.”