BURY Council is set to formally approve a 3.3 per cent rise in council house rents from April.

This is the maximum rise the council can impose before it loses subsidy, and will mean larger increases for smaller properties.

The rise equates to £1.50 a week, taking the average weekly rent to £47.11. However, there is great variation between types of houses, flats, bedsits, bungalows and maisonettes.

For example, rents for a bedsit will rise by anywhere between 1.6 and 10.4 per cent, and a two-bed house between 0.2 to 10.3 per cent.

Those living in sheltered housing will see service charge increased by an average of 9.9 per cent, and heating charges by around 11.3 per cent.

Rents are now set according to the house's valuation, size and relative local earnings.

This restructuring is the idea of the Government, which wants housing association and council rents to converge over the next ten years. The aim is that rents made on similar properties in the same area should be the same, no matter who the landlord is.

Some 70 per cent of the rent is calculated on relative local earnings with weightings applied to the number of bedrooms, and 30 per cent on relative property values.

The rise has to be formally approved by the council tomorrow (Wed Feb 27).