HC Deb 21 March 1990 vol 169 cc1104-6
2. Ms. Armstrong

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has developed to keep council rents at an affordable level.

The Minister for Housing and Planning (Mr. Michael Spicer)

It is for local authorities to determine the rents that they set. The Government are providing £3 billion of taxpayers' money to subsidise housing revenue accounts, from which around 60 per cent. of council tenants receive rent rebates, and rents generally can be kept within the reach of lower-paid tenants.

Ms. Armstrong

Does the Minister recognise the reality of council house rent rises this year? As with the poll tax, the Government have totally miscalculated the range of rent rises. For groups whose income is just above rebate levels, the penalty of the rent rises and the poll tax is totally beyond their means.

Mr. Spicer

We have not totally miscalculated the rent rises. Most authorities have kept within or below our guidelines. We estimate that the average difference between our guidelines and actual rent increases is about 3 per cent. Council house rents throughout the country remain well below market rents.

Mr. McCrindle

Does it remain Government policy to seek a relationship between council house rents and the average value of property in the vicinity? If so, does my hon. Friend believe that, in some ways, that might be getting things the wrong way round? Sometimes the most acute housing difficulties are experienced by people living in areas where the average value of property is high.

Mr. Spicer

We certainly want the pattern of rents to reflect the pattern of property values and market rents more than it does now. Vast amounts of public money go into subsidising rents throughout the country.

Mr. Beggs

Does the Minister agree that it is inevitable that housing rents will continue to rise? Does he further agree that more tenants should consider purchasing their own property?

Mr. Spicer

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. One million households have done precisely that under the right-to-buy scheme. I certainly want as many tenants to buy their properties as feel able to do so, for all the reasons implicit in the hon. Gentleman's questions.

Mr. Robert G. Hughes

Does my hon. Friend agree that the level of rents is an important factor in the amount of money that an authority will have available to carry out repairs, so it is not surprising that many Labour local authorities that have deliberately kept rents low for political reasons have had little to spend on repairs?

Mr. Spicer

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Authorities can keep to our guidelines, knowing that the costs of borrowing and of rent rebates have been taken fully into account and that an allowance has been made for an 8 per cent. increase in maintenance programmes. Authorities that have not carried out maintenance programmes will certainly not have done their tenants a good service.

Mr. Soley

The guidelines are pure fantasy, and the Minister knows it. The authorities that cannot meet them are primarily Conservative councils. What specifically will the Minister say to the London boroughs of Redbridge and Merton, to Bournemouth and to Canterbury, all of which are Conservative councils and all of which are imposing top rate rent increases? There will be an average rent increase of more than £15 a week in Redbridge. A bill for a £15 a week increase will arrive on the doormat at the same time as the poll tax bill. How is a family of four supposed to live? Are they living on fresh air or on a feast of Tory broken promises?

Mr. Spicer

I repeat that the guidelines are not figments of our imagination. They take full account of the borrowing costs of local authorities, of rent rebates and also of an 8 per cent. increase in maintenance costs. If an authority decides to go above our guidelines, it is perfectly free to do so. An authority may decide to do so for the best of reasons—to accelerate a maintenance programme or add to balances. That is a matter for the local authorities, and that is called local democracy.

Mr. David Nicholson

I am sure that my hon. Friend will agree that those living in good quality council houses—not flats—with gardens should pay a slightly more realistic rent, especially as, after yesterday's Budget, housing benefit will be more extensively available. Does my hon. Friend accept the point made earlier—that it is important that local authorities should be able to use the extra revenue to meet the pronounced need of those in my constituency and elsewhere who cannot yet obtain council housing?

Mr. Spicer

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Benefits are available for, on average, 60 per cent. of council tenants and some of them are among the most generous in the western world. They go up to 100 per cent., so my hon. Friend is absolutely right.

If some local authorities decide to spend more on maintenance programmes in their area, that is a matter for them. The fact remains that, contrary to what the Opposition say, average rents throughout the country are well below market rents.