As a responsible business we need to ensure we are viable in the long term. To do this we prepare a 30 year business plan.
We have an obligation to maintain our properties, to meet the Scottish Government’s energy standards, fire detection standard and Scottish Housing Quality Standard, all of which require significant investment.
We have a loan which was used to purchase the properties we own, and we need to be able to meet the loan repayments, the cost of this may increase in the future as interest rates fluctuate.
We need to be able to demonstrate to stakeholders that we will have the means to meet our obligations in the future. To do so we need to factor in inflation along with all other costs. If we do not allow for inflation, i.e. rent increases, we would not be able to continue trading after more than a few years.
Like all businesses, we need to consider a number of scenarios in the future, we cannot be certain about what interest and inflation rates will be in the future. We need to make sure we have cash reserves to pay for the maintenance of our properties, but we also need cash reserves to pay for unexpected items such as the new fire safety regulations.
To do this we generally look to carry reserves of around £2m, please ignore any social media articles which suggest we hold £30m in cash as that is not the case.
The charts below detail our income and expenditure and lets you see where your rent is being spent.
Our Housing Management staff are happy to speak to anyone who is having difficulty in paying their rent, and we are also funding the provision of money advice to help local residents obtain the best advice about their benefit entitlement and on managing their money.