The Board said the increase will ensure that there is no reduction in the level of service provided and will be sufficient to absorb the inflationary and potential Brexit driven price increases applied by suppliers and contractors to their costs.

The extra funding will also pay for a new build spend of £13.7 million in 2018/19, representing work commencing on over 80 units, as well as increased management costs anticipated to deal with the annual change in Insurance Premiums for its homes.

There will also be investment of £4.6m in current stock delivering 56 new kitchens, 65 new bathrooms, 184 heating system replacements and various other component replacements e.g., windows, roofing, roughcast.

HHP chair Norman Macleod said: “We recognise we are living in very challenging economic times, and any increase for tenants is unwelcome. The increase is required to enable us to carry out the investment programme in our homes to ensure that every home delivers a high standard of energy efficiency, which should contribute to reducing the current high energy costs.”

The Board will meet on March 21 to review the detailed budgets for investment and development.