Angus Council is lining up a 2% rent rise for tenants this year.
It will take the average weekly rent from £72.28 to £73.58 per week.
Housing chiefs say Angus will remain as one of the lowest charging councils in the country.
And they have taken the pandemic impact and rising cost of living into account by pegging the rise to less than normal.
The 2% increase was the lowest of four options put before the council’s tenants steering group.
Tenants’ options
In recent years the steering group has backed the council’s usual policy of increasing rents by 1% above inflation.
This year, officials recommended it should only be upped by 0.5% above inflation.
The four options were rent rises of 2%, 2.5%, 2.75% and 3%.
An online consultation and tenants meetings were help to let people consider the planned increase.
But just 153 tenants responded.
That is only 2% of all council tenants.
And there were only two votes between those in favour of a 2% rise (55) and the 53 tenants who backed a 3% increase.
The special rents meeting is due to take place on Tuesday.
If councillors agree the 2% increase recommendation it will mirror last year’s rise.
And the same level of increase will be applied to council garages and the St Christopher’s Travellers site at Montrose.
It will be 0.5% higher hike than the one agreed by neighbouring Dundee City Council last month.
Bathroom and kitchen upgrades
Councillors are also due to be updated on the urgent repairs and kitchen/bathroom upgrade programmes which were plunged in to crisis by contractor issues.
Airdrie-based MPS backed out of the repair contract just 10 months into a three-year deal.
The firm described the contract as “unsustainable”.
And the council ended MPS’s involvement in the kitchen and bathroom replacement programme in December.
The company blamed Covid impacts including staff shortages for not being able to keep up to pace with the contract.
Angus housing manager John Morrow says officials are looking at what lessons can be learned.
“The bulk kitchen contract has recently concluded and completed 238 installs in the last 12 months.
“A rolling annual programme providing approximately 50 upgrades a year will commence in 2022-23.
“There have been significant global issues resulting in disruption to the original programme for both the kitchen and bathroom contracts.
“This has resulted in the bathroom replacement programme delivering 403 upgrades in the last 12 months.
“An options appraisal underway to consider the lessons learned from works to date with the intention to begin to upgrade approximately 500 bathrooms annually going forward,” he said.
