Hello Prime Minister First Minister Todays date 23/10/2026
I've recently received Cardiff County Councils, 'Council Rent Setting Survey 2027/2028'. I should really scan the introductory letter in full but time is pressing and the library isn't just around the corner. So for now I'll just quote paragraphs of interest I'm sure both of you will know this but the casual reader will not.
Para 2: The amount that council rents can be increased by is set by Welsh Government. A decision has not yet been made about how much this will be from next April.
Para 3: Each year we check that our rents are affordable using the Joseph Rowntree Foundation living rents test. Council rent are also much lower than private rents, as shown below.
This is a foto of the compare private v council rents in the letter.
In the summer of 1999 when I first moved here the rent was this amount.
Google tells me: A rise from £46.79 to £124.22 means the final value is about 2.65 times the original, which corresponds to a 165.4% increase. using this calculation
Calculation
- Difference: £124.22 − £46.79 = £77.43
- Percentage increase:
Meanwhile during the same period Job Seekers Allowance Google gives me these figures: In 1999 the weekly Jobseeker’s Allowance personal allowance was £40.70 for people aged 18–24 and £51.40 for people aged 25 or over, the same for both contribution‑based and income‑based JSA.
and for 2026: The current New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance rate in 2026 is £75.65 a week if you’re under 25 and £95.55 a week if you’re 25 or over, correct as of October 2026.
Google tells me: The increase from £51.40 to £95.55 is about 85.97%.
Can either of you gentlemen tell me how it is morally justifiable for rents to increase by 165.4% yet the amount you give people to live on has only risen by 85% over the last 27yrs. It isn't is it gents? As for this Joseph Rowntree Foundation living rents test, that must be one bogus test if you ask me.
I started raising concerns about % rent increases from the year 2000. I am a tenant of a ground floor flat in a former 3 bedroom council property. Unfortunately for me the tenant in the first floor flat is a leaseholder, and I will come back to that later on. But if he were not the combined rent for this woefully inadequate conversion would be £248.44 compared to a 3 bedroom property £162.46 an £85.98 per week increase or x 52 weeks of the year means a £4,470.96 increase on what they would have gotten if not converted.
It is one of the reasons I created these 2 banners and displayed it outside the Welsh Assembly Building during it's early years. Not that Rhodri Morgan or Carwyn Jones gave a rats arse for the contents, maybe just maybe you 2 gents might be different?
And this one.
I'm sure if I was scamming the DWP for £4,470.96 a year they'd be wanting to jail me, but for councils it's all tickety boo no problemo here's your dosh. Given that over 80% of all council tenants are in receipt of Housing Benefit.
So what are we as tenants getting for this 165.4% rent increase, the self same criminal negligence that I endured in the first 2 yrs of this tenancy. Culminating in this reply to a complaint from me dated 9/6/2025 by one N Ibrahim. (I've procrastinated on the full blog post reply to N. Ibrahim I hope to remedy that soon).
''Regarding noise disturbance from the neighbouring flat, I understand your client’s concerns and the effect this may have on his health. However, as 15A XXX is a leasehold property, the Council does not have authority to enforce the type of flooring used within the premises''.
All first floor council tenants are required to be carpeted throughout with quality underlay. Never has the tenant above ever had that either prior to his becoming a leaseholder or since. That Cardiff County Council never had the same stipulation as ordinary tenants in their leaseholder contract, was and is Criminally Negligent of them and I have suffered a detriment that no other regular tenants have to endure since 2001 when he first moved here. His lounge is laminate flooring and the rest is bare chip board. The complaint was due to him getting a kitten and it running the hell everywhere, I'm certain that it would have pissed off anyone not just me.
That the council employee could write such tripe, is an example of their total lack of care for this or any other tenant. And I hope that this blog post will rectify this glaring error on the Councils part.
I was heartened to hear in PMQ's this week that the labour Party is looking into Standing Charges Mr Burnham. They were the reason I painted this banner.
In a typical HMO you can have anywhere from 5 to 10 so called flats sub-divide into one former house, with 5-10 standing charges for gas, electricity, water, TV Licenses. People don't end up in these properties because they are wealthy, generally they are the poorest members of society yet pro rata they pay more than the wealthiest in these charges. I being a low usage user can often see my Standing charge for electric being higher than my usage charge. And at this tenancy they get double what they would if it was declared a shared house.
I asked Rhodri Morgan why not divide the standing charge between the tenants of these former homes, as the juice all comes in on the same line but is sub-divided once inside the property. Yes there are more meters but still, the vulnerable are indeed cash cows for these companies, as well as for the council.
Thatcher thought that the free market would mean cheaper rents, she never counted on the banks just nodding through jacked up prices of those on the property market. I mean why would they deny the new inflated rate of house prices as they stood to gain greater revenues in terms of mortgage repayments. So the buy to let property market boomed and the price of rents increased to cover the re-evaluated property cost.
Your happy to pay private landlord £207.00 per week for slum housing, no questions asked, yet bitch about paying JSA at £95.55.. Who is the real drain on society here gents? And the private landlords never have to live in fear of being 'Sanctioned' by the DWP to collect their 'Benefit'.
So we are in a situation where google tells me: The UK government’s forecast housing benefit budget for 2025–26 is £37.3 billion, according to official DWP expenditure tables.
All going to a professional elite be they Council, Housing Association or private landlords.
Tell me gents have Council employee wages risen by 165.4% over the last 27 yrs? So then why have the rents been allowed to? No scrutiny is why. So all things being equal if there's a 3.5% rent increase this coming year in council rents or rents across the board it will mean.
Google says: 3.5% of £37.3 billion is £1.3055 billion. So the estimate for 2027 will be £38.65Billion in Housing Benefit. Nice work if you can get it eh gents?
How about a rent freeze for the next 10 yrs hmm? Or praise the Lord cutting council rents by 50% to reduce 'The Benefits budget' as the MSM like to harp on about. Maybe then they wont all need to endlessly bitch about 'The Triple Lock' for pensioners, because you will have more than enough to cover it from this saving.
Personally I would compulsory purchase any private landlord property where over 50% of tenants are in receipt of housing benefit, and no I would not be paying them the going rate for the property. It would be 'How much have you paid off the mortgage? Minus all the HB they have received for it' and renegotiate a deal with the banks, or maybe someone can come up with a better solution? As I am rather radical on these things. As after all many of these private landlord HMO's properties 100% of the mortgage is being paid for by the government plus profit to the landlord.
Here endeth the first draught.
