Basildon Council tenants were given a double boost today with the news that rents are to be restructured and there will be more choice of homes.

The council's executive board has decided there will be no across-the-board rent increases for Basildon tenants for the coming financial year for the first time ever.

Also, thanks to the adoption of a new allocations policy, people wanting a council home in the district will have more choice.

A new system of assessing rents will mean wholesale increases will be swept away and replaced by calculating rents of individual homes according to property values, size and average earnings.

Final details of individual rents, which on average will rise below two per cent each year over the next decade, are being ironed out to get the new system running by April 1.

Tony Ball, portfolio holder for housing and personal services, said: "This is a long-term programme and will come in over the next nine years, so our tenants will be protected from any dramatic changes in their rent."

Published Thursday, February 6, 2003

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