A FAIRER system of working out the rents charged by councils and housing associations is set to benefit tenants.

Under new government guidelines, rents will be set on a common basis, and will not depend on which local authority or housing association the property is rented from.

Rents will be based on local earnings, taking into account the average across the area, capital value and the number of bedrooms in a property. For example, the maximum rent for a three-bedroom property would be capped at £95 a week.

The new initiative is designed to give tenants a wider choice of properties, according to what they can afford.

In Ealing, this is likely to lead to a rent increase of £1.57 per week throughout the borough, a figure which is likely to be less than the upcoming average increase this year. It will also lead to slower and lower rent increases throughout the next ten years.

"People are anxious that this will mean huge rent increases," said Housing Minister, Sally Keeble. "However, rent restructuring will make a marginal difference to them. The government aim is not to have an impact on individual tenants, it will open doors for us to be able to move with progressive policies for housing.

"We want people to have more of a choice in housing especially as rents are now really a luck of the draw situation. We are aiming to even out the rates of housing association and council housing.

"Rent restructuring will not lead to huge increases in financial burden and rents won't increase as much as they have done over the last 10 years."

A spokesman for the council said: "This is certainly good news in terms of rent reflecting residents' ability to pay rather than purely the value of the property. However, the work is far from completed. To decide on the rent increase, we will be applying the national formula, considering subsidy arrangements, looking at our local budget and talking to residents. These discussions will take place in January."

By.Nina Palmer