COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF HOUSING SPC
Thursday, December 05, 2024
HEADED ITEM NO.
HEADED ITEM: H. Administration
Housing Rents Report
REPLY:
The calculation of rental income for the annual budget is primarily based on the average rent of all current tenancies. As of November 2024, 11,123 households are currently assessed for rent payable directly to the Council as follows:
|
Tenancy |
Number of Accounts |
|
Council |
10,019 |
|
RAS |
575 |
|
Leased |
529 |
|
|
|
The combined housing rental income for tenancy types for 2025 is projected at €40,281,400, representing an increase of €3,769,900 on the adopted budget of €36,511,500 for 2024. The increase is primarily due to an increasing average rent which is driven by buoyancy in household incomes (due to increased employment income and/or increased social welfare income) and increasing numbers of tenancies due continued delivery of additional social homes during 2024 and projected across 2025.
The projected number of tenancies and projected rental income for 2025 broken down by account type is as follows:
|
Tenancy |
Projected Number of Accounts 2025 |
Average Weekly Rent |
Projected Rental Income |
|
Council |
10,308 |
€67.72 |
€36,293,800 |
|
RAS |
572 |
€75.17 |
€2,246,413 |
|
Leased |
528 |
€60.65 |
€1,721,200 |
Weekly Rent Bands
The following table shows the number of households in each current weekly rent band across the different types of tenancy:
|
Weekly Rent |
Account Type |
Total |
% of Total Accounts |
|||
|
From |
To |
Council |
RAS |
Leased |
||
|
€0 |
€25.00 |
1,346 |
41 |
46 |
1,434 |
12.89% |
|
€25.01 |
€50.00 |
2,717 |
147 |
193 |
3,057 |
27.48% |
|
€50.01 |
€75.00 |
2,361 |
139 |
150 |
2,650 |
23.82% |
|
€75.01 |
€100.00 |
1,548 |
105 |
76 |
1,729 |
15.54% |
|
€100.01 |
€125.00 |
934 |
64 |
33 |
1,031 |
9.27% |
|
€125.01 |
€150.00 |
485 |
43 |
13 |
541 |
4.86% |
|
€150.01 |
€175.00 |
318 |
22 |
10 |
350 |
3.15% |
|
€175.01 |
€200.00 |
150 |
6 |
5 |
161 |
1.45% |
|
€200.01 |
€225.00 |
78 |
5 |
2 |
85 |
.76% |
|
€225.01 |
€250.00 |
44 |
2 |
1 |
46 |
.42% |
|
€250.01 |
€400.00 |
38 |
1 |
- |
39 |
.36% |
|
Totals |
10019 |
575 |
529 |
11,123 |
100% |
|
Differential Rent Scheme
The differential rent charged is an executive function based on the Council’s Differential Rent Scheme and to be calculated as follows:
- 10% of the total household aggregated assessable income
- Plus a fixed weekly charge of €3
- Plus an additional 10% of any income in excess of the relevant social housing income eligibility threshold for households whose overall net income is in excess of the relevant social housing income eligibility threshold for their family size.
Under the Council’s current Differential Rent Scheme, income from the following sources are excluded for rent purposes:
- Child Benefit, Orphans’ Allowance
- Scholarships, Higher Education Grants
- Allowances payable for fostering children
- Allowances for domiciliary casre of disabled children
- Any income accruing to a member of a household as a result of the payment of a Carer’s Allowance
- Allowances or assistance received from a charitable organisation
- Extra allowance for people aged 80 or over payable under certain categories of Social Welfare income
- Fuel allowance/Living alone allowance
- Court approved maintenance payments to another person
- Working family payment
Rent assessments
There are multiple reasons for a rent assessment to be carried out on an account to ensure that all persons and household income is accurately recorded including:
- Set up of new tenancy
- Inclusion on rent
- Removal from rent
- Change in financial circumstances
We generally aim to assess at least 25% of rent accounts in a calendar year and 4,480 rent assessments have been completed to date in 2024. (3,847 individual accounts)
Household Income Above Social Housing Thresholds
The current social housing net income eligibility thresholds are as follows.
- €40,000 net annual income for a single person
- €2,000 additional net annual income for each additional adult in the household (up to a maximum of 3 adults)
- €1,000 additional net annual income for each additional child in the household (no limit on number of children)
The overall weekly and annual social housing net income eligibility thresholds by household size are shown in the following table:
|
Household Size |
Social Housing Eligibility Thresholds (Household Net Income) |
||
|
Adult |
Child |
Annual |
Weekly |
|
1 |
0 |
€40,000 |
€769.23 |
|
1 |
1 |
€41,000 |
€788.46 |
|
1 |
2 |
€42,000 |
€807.69 |
|
1 |
3 |
€43,000 |
€826.92 |
|
2 |
0 |
€42,000 |
€807.69 |
|
2 |
1 |
€43,000 |
€826.92 |
|
2 |
2 |
€44,000 |
€846.15 |
|
2 |
3 |
€45,000 |
€865.38 |
|
3+ |
0 |
€44,000 |
€846.15 |
|
3+ |
1 |
€45,000 |
€865.38 |
|
3+ |
2 |
€46,000 |
€884.62 |
|
3+ |
3 |
€47,000 |
€903.85 |
(The social housing net income thresholds were increased by €5,000 per household in October 2022)
It is estimated that approximately 2,803 current tenancies have net household income above the social housing thresholds. Based on current records and subject to full individual rent assessments being carried out, analysis of the potential impact of the provision in the differential rent scheme relating to tenancies where household income is above the relevant social housing threshold, shows the following:
|
No. of Households |
Average NET Annual Income |
Weekly Household Income Category |
Average Weekly Rent increase |
Average Monthly Rent |
Rent as % of Monthly Net Income |
% of Overall Tenancies |
|
8,210 |
€23,318 |
Up to €1,000 net per week |
€0 |
€207 |
10.67% |
74.55% |
|
832 |
€47,381 |
Up to €1,000 net per week |
€7.14 |
€439 |
11.11% |
7.55% |
|
1,402 |
€62,078 |
Between €1,000 and €1,500 net per week |
€34.26 |
€679 |
13.12% |
12.73% |
|
425 |
€87,841 |
Between €1,500 and €2,000 net per week |
€83.21 |
€1,106 |
15.10% |
3.86% |
|
144 |
€121,161 |
Greater than €2,000 net per week |
€147.55 |
€1,662 |
16.46% |
1.31% |
Hardship
Where a weekly debit calculated in accordance with the rent scheme may give rise to undue hardship, the Council may amend the rent if deemed appropriate due the household’s individual circumstances.
Online Rent Payments (MyCoCO)
We are currently in the process of introducing a new online payment system, MyCoCO. This system is provided as part of the Council’s commitment to providing appropriate and quality customer-oriented services and will allow rent payments to be made online using debit or credit cards. Rent account holders can also use their online account to rent transactions, account balances and statements.