INFLATION-BUSTING rent rises for residents on a Keighley estate are adding insult to injury, says MP Ann Cryer.
She branded housing bosses as "a bit cheeky" for imposing weekly increases of around eight per cent.
Many tenants of Bradford Community Housing Trust in Woodhouse live in homes which each need £45,000 of repairs.
The rises will be imposed on all tenants of the trust, which manages Bradford district's former council houses.
From April 7 all tenants will see their rents rise by 4.4 per cent, plus £2.17.
Although the trust says the change is based on an inflation level of 3.9 per cent, the typical rise will be eight per cent.
A tenant paying £60 a week rent will have to pay an extra £4.81 a week. This compares with 5.2 per cent last year, as long-term tenants have until now benefited from a five-year rent guarantee limiting the rise to inflation plus 1.5 per cent.
Mrs Cryer said: "It's a lot for someone on minimum wage, they're going to have a problem paying it.
"It's adding insult to injury to say your house needs all this money spending on it but we're going to put your rent up'."
The trust said the Government set the level of rents for social housing landlords and the trust was legally bound by them.
Assistant chief executive Tim Doyle said: "The new rent level continues to compare favourably to the rents paid in the local private rented sector."
Some tenants, such as those living in sheltered housing, flats and linked housing, also face rises in service costs.
Heating and concierge services will each increase by £2 a week but payments for the neighbourhood warden service will drop by 30p.
The trust said it had subsidised such costs over the past five years. The current cost is £3.8 million a year but only £1.3 million is raised through charging.
A trust spokesman said: "Heating costs in trust flats and sheltered properties alone have risen by over 100 per cent since 2003. Over 80 per cent of tenants who are affected by the new service charges are entitled to support through their housing benefits."
Details of the new rent and service charges, and advice on possible benefit entitlement, is available from the trust's Keighley office, at 14 Devonshire Street, or by phoning 0845 166 0100.
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