Aster hits residents with ‘ridiculous’ garage price increase

A LOCAL man has criticised a ‘ridiculous’ decision by a housing association to increase the rental cost of his garage by 58%.

Aster Group has announced that from April, rental fees for private rented garages will increase by at least 2.5%. However for some residents, the hike in price is considerable more than 2.5%.

Local resident Jon Candy, whose fee has increased from £37 to £64.48, an increase of 58%  a month said, “I received a letter from Aster Group stating that as of April my garage rental fee will be increasing. This is normal at this time of year, but this time it is being nearly doubled. This is ridiculous and sadly if this is the case I and many others, if not all the other hundreds of Frome residents who rent garages,   will have to give them up. They already have many unused and poorly-maintained garages and now as well as having many more, there will be many more cars parked on our already clogged streets.

“The effect it will have on me is that I think I will have to sadly, after around 15 years, have to give up my garage as the price they are asking is out of all proportion.”

Aster defended the increase saying, “We are investing heavily in our garage portfolio over the next five years to provide customers with an enhanced product. For us to achieve this we have reviewed our current stock in line with the private rental market and have set prices to more closely reflect open market levels with a minimum 2.5% increase.

“Our core function is to provide and maintain homes for families to live in. Any additional income beyond the management and maintenance of our garage stock is used to support our aspirations of ensuring that ‘everyone has a home’ by building much-needed new affordable homes for rent and homeownership. We’re a not-for-dividend business – our profits provide more homes for more people.”