West Dunbartonshire Council says the increase of 7.63 per cent, which comes into effect on April Fools Day, will help fund further improvements to housing.

The increase will see the average weekly rent payable over 52 weeks go up by £4.67, but the council says it will still remain below the Scottish average for social landlords.

Announcing the rise last week, WDC said the rental income will be invested back into housing to ensure all of the council homes meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard by March 2015, and new properties can be built.

Councillor David McBride, convener of housing, said: “When we took the decision to cancel the partial stock transfer project and retain all our Council homes tenants knew that increased rents would be needed to pay for the major improvements required to our properties. Increasing rents is never an easy decision but I believe our tenants understand why we need to do this.”