COUNCIL tenants in East Lothian will be asked to approve a rent increase of up to five per cent from April when the Scottish Government freeze in a rise is expected to be lifted.

Members of East Lothian Council’s administration will be asked to approve a consultation on rent prices which is due to start on Tuesday at a meeting on the same day.

The consultation will ask whether tenants would prefer no increase, a three per cent increase or a five per cent increase and it will outline the case for each option.

A report to cabinet officers says freezing the rent for another year, even with a five per cent increase over the following two years, will be unaffordable unless other savings are identified such as “reducing service levels or significantly reducing the ambition of the council’s modernisation and new build programme”.

It says a three per cent increase followed by five per cent increases over the next two years would still require a reduction in the council’s plans and future investment in its housing stock.

However, it says a five per cent increase annually over the next three years would “mainly allow current levels of service and investment in our stock and new build programme to be maintained”.

In the report, officers point out that rent in East Lothian remains among the lowers local authority charges in Scotland and is on average 42 per cent lower than Edinburgh, 17.6 per cent lower than Midlothian and 12 per cent lower than West Lothian and Fife.

However, they also recognise the cost-of-living crisis and impact it has had on local residents.

The report says: “Whilst understanding the cost pressures facing our tenants, the council is also facing significant pressures with increasing costs around borrowing, materials and labour for our new build programme, repairs and maintenance programmes, and improving our tenants' homes.”

The Scottish Government introduced a rent freeze across the country earlier this year but it is due to be lifted at the start of April.

Officers say they want to be ready to introduce an increase, if approved, when it lifts, with the consultation due to run until December 16 and results to go before the council in February.