Tenants of Barrhead Housing Association will be hit with a rent hike next week.

The 0.5% increase for 2021/22 has been imposed after the organisation held a consultation with tenants earlier this year.

Leaflets were issued to all tenants, offering a variety of ways to respond with their views on the proposed rise.

A digital survey was also carried out via texts and emails.

A spokesperson for Barrhead Housing Association said: “We would like to thank everyone who made the time to give us their views.

“We received just over 160 responses in total. That’s the most we have received since the 2015 rent consultation process was carried out.

“Tenant feedback fed into discussions at our governing board meeting, during which the board agreed to increase rents and service charges by 0.5% from April 1. This decision wasn’t taken lightly and the board took a number of factors into consideration before approving the 0.5%.

“This increase was the minimum we could apply to ensure we continue to provide a range of existing and proposed new services and is the lowest increase we have applied in a number of years.

“We will be in touch with tenants to let them know our plans for the year ahead.”