Council tenants in East Lothian will be asked for their views on a rent increase of up to seven per cent – just a year after seeing it go up by five per cent.

Housing officers have been given the go ahead to consult tenants on a potential increase for the next financial year as elected members agreed it was appropriate to ‘share the pressure’ of the cost of living crisis with residents.

A report to a meeting of East Lothian Council’s Labour administration cabinet said: “Whilst understanding the cost pressures facing our tenants, the council has also continued to experience further cost pressures since the budget was set for 2023/24.

“It is therefore appropriate to share these pressures and obtain views from our tenants to help us consider the implications, finding a balance between the impacts of rising costs on the delivery of our capital programmes with the financial hardship that is a reality for many of our tenants.”

Officers told the meeting that East Lothian Council continues to have amongst the lowest rents in Scotland and has the lowest local authority rents within the South East of Scotland.

They said the council’s rents are also considerably lower than those housing associations and around 60 per cent of tenants receive help with their rent.

The consultation, which was given unanimous backing by the cabinet, will offer tenants three options – a five per cent increase, six per cent, or seven per cent.

It will say the lowest increase would allow the council to meet its current level of service and investment by leaving no flexibility should further cost pressures come forward.

A six per cent increase would also still make things ‘extrememely tight’ while a seven per cent increase would mean less pressure, it said.

The consultation will take place over November and December with the results presented to councillors ahead of next year’s budget setting decisions.