Structural problems in The Combe led to an evacuation in late 2024, while every week residents ring the CNJ about problems with damp and mould

THOUSANDS of tenants living in crumbling council homes and often waiting months, if not years, for basic repairs are facing another massive rent rise.

The Town Hall wants to hike rents by around a tenner a week for an average two-bed flat – while also bumping up charges for caretaking, CCTV, maintenance and service charges in hostels and temporary accommodation.

The basic rise coming in April is 4.8 per cent – but this year, for the first time, Camden is expected to add a £2 charge on top of all tenants’ rent bills, the “maximum permitted” by a new government policy.

Tenant reps at Camden’s district management committees (DMC) – the link between council decision-makers and people living in council housing – have all voted to oppose the extra charge, warning that more and more people will be pushed onto benefits.

Pensioner Derek Jarman, a former Labour councillor and chairman of Kentish Town DMC who lives in Leighton Road, said: “Another £10 a week for me, well that’s nearly my whole state pension gone on top of everything. Me and my wife are pensioners. It is a brutal system.

“The day before we were presented with this proposal to put our rents up by around a tenner, I saw the PM going on about the cost of living crisis.”

He added: “Eventually all tenants in the borough will be on housing benefit if they keep these rises up. Good luck to them when they ask people to vote for them in May.”

The Town Hall says it desperately needs to boost income so it can tackle the huge repairs backlog and that 72 per cent of tenants would find the increases covered by housing benefit and Universal Credit.

But it admits low-income tenants and those crossing into pension age, whose rent is not covered by benefits, will have “less disposable income”.

Paul Tomlinson, vice chair of Camden Town DMC, said: “People expect the rent to go up, but in the last couple of years people on the DMCs are concerned because there is a large portion of people affected who are not covered by benefits.

“People are put in a position of needing to apply for benefits. Anything that is done to change basic income does have a lot more effect than people think.

“People recognise that the council is going to do what they want to do. It’s very hard for the ordinary person to judge how the council is off financially. You have to be a finance professional to know what’s going on.”

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Statistics show 27 per cent of all tenants are aged 66 years old or older.

Mr Tomlinson, who lives in Ampthill Square and is also a former Labour councillor, added: “Rents have to go up, but they can only go up as much as people can afford. Management costs have gone up a huge amount and we have a huge number of voids where rent is not coming in. Those things come into it as well, there are other sources of money.”

Government policy dictates what rent rises should be by calculating whatever the Consumer Price Index is in September – 3.8 per cent for 2025 – and adding 1 per cent.

The council argues that successive governments have imposed rules that have stripped the Town Hall of more than £200million in the past 12 years – and this has hampered the local authority’s capacity to address damp, mould and basic repairs.

“This is all money that would have been available for the maintenance and improvement of our existing stock as well as supporting the council’s house building programme,” a report to last week’s housing scrutiny committee said.

Rents and charges for tenants in temporary accommodation are also being increased.

Service charges paid by hostel and supported housing tenants will also increase by 4.8 per cent – with an added 6.9 per cent increase for “concierge”.

Garage rents are also being going up by 11 per cent – typically £2 a week more – although heating and hot water charges are recommended to be frozen.

Camden’s housing chief, Councillor Sagal Abdi-Wali, said: “Despite extensive work to balance our budgets and additional capital funding from the current government, we still face significant financial challenges across our housing stock. Increasing the charges our tenants pay is not something we take lightly, however with a large housing stock like ours we are being stretched to the limit. Not only is there continued investment needed to reach new fire safety requirements, there is significant investment needed in communal heating beyond the budgets currently set aside.

“When combined with a planned contribution from reserves, this budget will bring in £15.2million to help us maintain our housing services and improve our housing stock – ensuring our homes are of the highest quality our residents need and deserve and we can sort out the issues most impacting our residents.

“We know this rent increase may be challenging for some of our residents and we are here to help – we have a wide range of support available to those who are concerned about money, debt, their energy use, or bills. As a landlord, we have a crucial role in residents’ lives and will continue to ensure our homes best meet their needs and drive-forward on our house-building programmes.”