Windfall for City Council tenants as rents to be cut
More than 3,000 low income households in the city could be in line for a bonus next year when local authority rents are lowered.
The vast majority of Galway City Council tenants in social housing, as well as those on Rental Accommodation Schemes (RAS) and long-term leasing (LTL) agreements, will see their rents fall from the middle of 2015.
The exact weekly or monthly reduction in rents for each local authority tenant, including those on RAS and LTL, has yet to be calculated and not every tenant will face lower rents. The annual reduction could be in the order of €180 a year per household, on average.
However, as Government attempts to standardise rents paid across the country, it has been confirmed that city tenants are in line for a welcome reduction in rents.
There are some 2,100 social authority homes in the city, as well as more than 500 households who are on RAS housing schemes and scores more on LTL.
The total reduction in rent that will be passed on to tenants from March next year will be roughly €300,000; the total rental reduction in a full year will be in the order of €535,000.
The reduction in rents that applies to each household will depend on a rent assessment of “household composition and income details” of the tenants.
The rent reductions that are in the pipeline for city tenants came to light at a media briefing on Tuesday given by the Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath.
Mr McGrath confirmed that rents will reduce for most but not all tenants as a result of Government’s introduction of a national differential scheme on rents.
Currently, Galway City tenants pay rents that are above the national average but under the standardised framework the rents will fall, he said.
“Based on analysis and modelling of the proposed rents framework, there is a potential decrease in revenue for Galway City Council to the approximate value of €535,000 per annum,” said Mr McGrath.
For more on this story, see this week's Galway City Tribune