Moonlight Robbery

Government makes a profit of £1.5 billion from our rents.

The Moonlight Robbery Campaign calls for fairer use of tenants rent payments

Our rent payments cover the cost of Management and Maintenance (M&M) Allowances. This is money the government allows our councils to use for services like estate cleaning and repairs. Our rent also covers the cost of Major Repair Allowances (MRA) - for councils to fund major repairs.

Mationally, however, we pay on average £26 a week more in rent than the level of M&M Allowance. After the MRA Allowance is taken into account the final excess figure is £15 per week. In London the figure varies from minus £10.54 per dwelling per week (City of London) to £23.96 (Harrow). On average, in London, we are paying £6.79 a week more in rent than our councils are getting in M&M and MRA

This money is clawed back by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). In 2003 / 4 nationally this amounted to £1.5 billion on the running costs of council housing - from our rents.

The total amount that councils were allowed to spend on management and maintenance of our homes in '03/'04 was £4.5 billion.

At the same time research carried out for the Government, by the Building and Research Establishment, shows that councils actually need £5.5 billion to fund an adequate management and maintenance serrvice for our homes.

The ODPM has claimed that if the subsidy by Government to council housing debt costs were taken into account that in '03/'04 central government made a net contribution of almost £200 million to council Housing. BUT this figure ignores the income from 'reserved' right to buy (RTB) receipts, which councils cannot use and goes back to Government.

In recent years reserved RTB receipts have far exceeded Government funding for investtment in mainstream council housing.

The average annual reserved RTB from 2000 - 2003 amounted to £1,105 million. Over the same time period the average amount of investment in mainstream housing has been £588 million and the average net disinvestment £516 million.

MR