Details of the rent increases which Scottish social landlords will apply in 2023/24 were published by the Scottish Housing Regulator earlier this week.

Following the moratorium on increases in rents for homes provided by social landlords, members of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Glasgow West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations agreed to increases averaging 6.1%.

Based on returns from 136 RSLs and the 29 local authorities that have housing stock, the report from the Regulator found that the average increases in weekly rent that social landlords will charge in 2023/24 is 5.07%, with the average for local authorities at 3.80% and for RSLs at 5.34%.

Commenting on the Regulator report, Aileen McGuire said Parkhead Housing Association will monitor the impact of the increase on its tenants.

She added: “It was by far the toughest budget experience since I first started in the sector many years ago. We were hearing from our tenants saying they were so hard-pressed financially and at the same time had seen our own costs rise dramatically.

“Eventually, our board settled on a 2.5 % rent increase and although this is well below the Scottish average of 5.34 % for housing associations, and we understand the lowest in Glasgow, we still worry about its impact on our tenants. Our welfare rights, wider role and housing officer teams will be working hard in the coming months to support our tenants”.