Two social housing associations have announced rent increases which will add hundreds of pounds to North Hertfordshire tenants’ annual bills.

North Hertfordshire Homes and Howard Cottage Housing Association have announced their rents will go up at the start of the financial year, beginning in April.

The average cost of renting a three bedroom home from North Hertfordshire Homes will rise from £111.66 to £117.87 – an extra £322.92 a year – while renting a similar property with Howard Cottage Housing Association will rise from £107.83 to £112.64, increasing by £250.12 a year.

Both housing associations said the price of commercially renting a property is much higher and justified their rent increases as a means of running a sustainable business.

A spokesman for North Hertfordshire Homes said: “As a not-for-profit business, our board, which includes tenants, has found it particularly difficult to review rent charges this year. Our rent does increase every year with all income put into the cost of managing homes and building new ones.

“We are mindful that the bedroom tax is already causing much hardship and anguish across the country and so the decision to increase rents has not been taken lightly. For many of our tenants an increase could mean the difference in what food they can afford, how long the heating is left on or changes to lifestyle choices on how they budget for non-essential items.”

Michelle Cross, finance and resources director at Howard Cottage Housing Association, said: “Like all organisations, to remain viable in the long term, we have to ensure that what we charge our residents keeps up with inflation. If we failed to do that, we wouldn’t be able to invest in maintaining our existing properties and building new homes for the future.”

Will you be affected by rising rent costs? Email your views to oliver.pritchard@archant.co.uk or via Twitter.

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