Changes to your rent from April 2024

This is a reminder that your new rent charges and (where applicable) service charges for the 2024-25 financial year will be applied from the start of April.

The rent you pay ensures we can continue to provide all our customers with a safe, secure home. It enables us to provide our maintenance services, invest in improvements to homes and communities, and have colleagues available to support you.

Last year we invested £83.4m on maintaining and repairing our homes, and we will continue to invest to ensure our properties remain safe and comfortable homes for our customers. The service charge you may pay covers a range of services such as ground maintenance or lighting in communal areas. We understand many people will be concerned about paying their bills, given the current cost-of-living pressures households are dealing with. We are committed to supporting our customers where we can and providing you with advice about maximising your income. 

Just like other organisations, the effects of inflation on our costs continues to have an impact. Our commitment to providing you with safe and reliable services remains our priority.

You can read more about the services we provide and the investment we make in our homes and our communities in our most recent customer annual report – click here.

Why is my new rent based on 53 weeks?

There are 53 Mondays in the 2024/25 financial year, which runs from Monday 1 April 2024 until Sunday 6 April 2025, with the last Monday being 31 March 2025.

This happens every five or six years, because there are 365 days in a year or 366 in a leap year. This breaks down to 52 weeks in a year plus 1 day, or in a leap year 52 weeks plus 2 days. These extra days then accumulate to add an extra week to the year.

This means:

• If you pay your rent monthly, we will use the following calculation: new weekly rent charge multiplied by 53 then divided by 12.
• Universal Credit (UC) will not cover the 53rd Monday. So, all UC customers who receive the housing element will need to cover this charge.
• Housing Benefit covers all chargeable weeks so are not affected.
• You can pay this over the course of the year, and in most cases is a few £ a week, for example, weekly rent of £200 divided by 53 = £3.77 per week or if you want to pay monthly = £200 divided by 12 = £16.67

Those who have older tenancies which include rent free weeks are not affected.

Help to manage your money

Our team are available to help you with advice and support and we will do all we can to help you manage your money. If you’re worried about paying your rent or service charges you can call us on 0333 400 8222 to speak with our financial wellbeing team.

Last year we helped families access over £577,703 in additional income and supported 2,954 people.

We can help you set up realistic repayment schedules if you’re in arrears and connect you to other support services in your community if you need them.

You can also use our free Money Advice Tool, which helps with budgeting and checks you’re accessing all the support available to you.

Answering your questions

If you are worried about paying your rent or other charges we’d love you to talk to us. You can call us on 0333 400 8222.