Cardiff Council has collected more than £20m from rental income since April of this year, it can be revealed. According to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request filed by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), between April 6 and July 3 the council has collected £25,829,393 from “standard council housing” within the city.
Rental income breakdown
The FOI also showed that the council currently has 14,434 units of such accommodation, with rental revenue being broken down as £6,399,472 between April 6 and May 1, £8,907,443 between May 2 and May 29, and £10,522,477 between May 30 and July 3.
According to the council, rental income from council houses is paid into a dedicated account that is ringfenced by law so that it can only be used to reinvest back into housing services, council homes and neighbourhoods. This income then supports services for tenants, investment in existing homes, repairs, customer service, tenant engagement and the construction of more housing stock.
Council explanation for variation
The figures show a clear increase in the amount of rental income the city is collecting from its council houses on a month-by-month basis, with an increase of roughly 64% between the beginning of April to the beginning of July.
A spokesperson for Cardiff Council said: “Council rents are set annually and do not change month by month. The variation in the rent figures shown in the FOI response is caused by several factors. “Annual rent is collected over 49 weeks, and April includes one of the three rent-free weeks each year, so is therefore lower than other months. “On top of that, this year there was an issue with processing some April payments. This meant that three days of April payments were recorded in the May figures. In terms of the figures for June in the FOI response, they capture a 5-week payment period due to the number of Mondays falling within that calendar month in 2026. “In addition, during the months the FOI was recorded, the number of occupied council homes went up by 64 due to new properties being built and vacant properties coming into use.
They continued: “Any rent increase must be considered in line with the Welsh Government Rent and Service Charge Standard, and tenants are consulted before rents are set.”
Other income and acquisitions
In the same time period, the FOI revealed that the council collected £78,826 from garages and £2,742,070 from “temporary accommodation units”.
As of July 16, the council is in the process of acquiring 21 properties with an additional 10 properties under investigation, although the number of properties under investigation varies daily.
