Since its inception Weslo has given a commitment to tenants
that the annual rent increase would be limited to a maximum of
RPI+1%. This commitment has been upheld every year since the Board
set Weslo's first rent increase in 1994.
Various options were considered by Weslo's Board on 2 February
2011 ranging from no increase to the maximum (RPI + 1%). At
the time of consideration RPI stood at 4.8%. The Board of 12
consists of the three Executive directors, the Chairman, four
Tenant Directors, two local authority representatives and two from
the wider community with housing related experience. The
Tenant Participation Committee also discussed the rent review
at their meeting on 20 January 2011, and their comments along with
other factors including the economic climate and the need to ensure
the long term financial well being of the company were taken into
account when the Board made its decision.
The Board was mindful of trying to balance the long term
financial well being of the company with maintaining an affordable
rent structure. The consensus of both the Tenant
Participation Committee and the Board was a 5.0% rent increase
which was 0.2% above the RPI at the time of setting the rent
increase best achieved this balance.