EKHA Tenant Consultation
Rent setting for 2026/27 – what we are proposing:
Every year EKHA’s Board must approve the annual budget, which includes setting the rent levels for our tenants. Rents are EKHA’s biggest source of income.
We must ensure that the proposed budget is sufficient to cover all our projected running costs, including the maintenance and improvement of your homes. We currently provide a five-star service, with extremely high levels of tenant satisfaction. 95% of EKHA’s tenants are satisfied with the overall service we provide, compared to the Scottish average of 86.9%. Last year, after consulting tenants, we applied a rent increase of 1.7%, the lowest rent increase in the whole of Scotland. However, we did explain that we wouldn’t be able to continue doing this year upon year and uphold the service you value so highly.
The context that Board has taken into account when considering rent levels includes the following:
• We continue to experience relatively high cost-of-living, which disproportionately affects the poorest people in society, including many of our tenants.
• Inflation (CPI) was unchanged at 3.8% from August to September (the month we normally use to calculate your rent).
• EKHA’s costs are rising much more quickly than inflation, particularly in relation to maintenance, health and safety compliance, insurance costs and staffing (though we continue to hold two posts unfilled for the moment).
• We finally implemented the much-delayed rent harmonisation system on 1st April 2024, phased in over several years.
The EKHA Board recently received a report detailing the economic background. It also outlines the effect of each option on existing rents and how EKHA’s rents compare to other landlords’ rents. The report can be found below.
We are consulting on a 5.6% and a 6.6% rent increase. Because of last year’s inflation-only increase, we are having to claw back some ground just to maintain services at their current level. Regardless of which of the two proposals are implemented, EKHA has budgeted to overspend considerably in 2026/27 to try and counteract some of the cutbacks to the planned maintenance programme over the past 3 or 4 years. While we can cope with this as a one-off, this is not sustainable.
We will be holding a ‘Zoom’ consultation event on Wednesday 10th December 2025 at 7pm. Senior EKHA staff and Board members will be present to answer any questions you may have on the subject. Please contact Debbie McVean for access to this meeting at [email protected]
We will also be holding a face-to-face rent consultation event in the Torrance Hotel on Wednesday 14th January 2026 at 7pm. Again, senior staff and Board members will be available to answer your questions.
Once we have held these consultation events, we will issue every EKHA tenant with a short survey to allow you to select which of the two proposals you think is the most appropriate. The final decision on this rent increase will be made by the Board at its meeting on 28th January 2026, once we have received feedback from you.
Meanwhile Andy Young, EKHA Chief Executive, is happy to discuss any aspects of these proposals or the consultation process itself. Andy can be contacted by email at [email protected] or by telephoning 01355 227751.
Throughout the process, if wish to get any of our consultation documents in a different format, for example, large print, audio tape or CD, translations into community languages, use of language or sign interpreter or braille, please contact us.
