STATES house tenants are concerned about planned rent increases. They fear that a lot of people who are already living on the breadline will have to pay more.

‘My rent is quite high anyway because we both work. It’s no cheaper living here than if we owned our own house; in fact, a mortgage would be cheaper,’ said expectant mother Terri Garnham, 30, who lives at Mahaut Gardens with her husband.

‘With another rent hike, it’s going to be ridiculous – it’s already £130 a week to live here. Finding a deposit for a mortgage is the problem.’

Single mother-of-two Sally Marquis, 32, has lived in her house for five years.

‘I’m paying top rent now because I’m working full-time to support my children. If it goes up much more, I’m not going to be able to cope. Already I’m paying a third of my wages on rent,’ she said.

‘It’s complicated – it’s not just rent you have to take into account but everything else such as people’s lifestyles. I’m not an extravagant person but I do need to live.

‘My children are aged 13 and five and want to do everything and they do next to nothing because of the financial conditions.

‘I would like the States to look at people on an individual basis. If you are working full-time, they assume you have got lots of money and they assess you as if you have got good wages. It’s fair enough for those people with a second wage, but those of us who have not should be considered,’ she said.

‘A lot of people in the private sector feel that if you have to live in a States house, you are a sponger, but it’s just not the case.

‘I work full-time, six days a week, and don’t ask anybody for anything. I can’t go to a bank on my wage – 90% of us are here because this is all we can afford.

‘A lot of people imagine our rents to be pennies but I pay almost £100 a week and other people pay less than that on a mortgage,’ she said.

‘We can’t afford a mortgage and the States loans are out of the reach of most of us, especially those with only one wage coming in, and I don’t know if they would consider a single wage anyway. The bottom line is we are not the money grabbers some people think we are.’

Another 78-year-old resident, who receives a rent rebate and did not wish to be named, hit back at a possible rent rise.

‘You will never change the States. If they have made up their mind, they never seem to change it. The rents are enough already,’ he said.

Another unnamed Mahaut Gardens resident was annoyed that tenants had no voice in rent increases.

‘It’s all decided before they get a say. Unless I get my sick money, it means I’m left short,’ she said.

One tenant who has lived in the same States house at Mahaut Gardens for 27 years said that many of the properties had recently been refurbished.

‘They are nice but the rents are dear enough as they are. The private sector is terrible and there is no way that people like us could afford to live in those places.

‘States houses generally used to be for the poorer person but there are people who run businesses from them,’ she said.

‘I hated the thought of having to live in Collings Road at the start but I’m quite content and it’s been fine for me. I am on sickness benefit and it’s hard enough going as it is.’