6 - Rent and charges
Ways to pay your rent
We want to make it as easy as possible for you to pay your rent, which is why we offer a number of methods.
You can pay:
- at your post office using your swipe card
- at local shopping facilities showing the Paypoint sign* using your swipe card
- by cheque either in person at our office or by post
- cash payments
- standing order
- direct debit (one month in advance)
- internet payments
- by debit card
- by touchtone telephone
* The Paypoint sign looks like this:
How your rent is set
Your rent is set according to a government formula. This formula has to be followed by all councils and registered social landlords.
The aim of the formula is to make rent setting fairer and it is based on setting a target rent for each property. Once this target has been reached, annual increases are limited to inflation plus 0.5%.
When your rent is due
Your weekly rent is due in advance on a Monday each week.
When rent increases come into effect
Rent increases come into effect from the first Monday in April each year. We will let you know what your rent increase will be at least one month in advance.
Rent statements
Tenants have a rent card which shows them at any given time what they owe on their rent. The new swipe cards, when they are introduced, will not do this so we will send a statement to you every quarter to show where you stand. It’s a bit like a bank statement.
The information on the statement shows:
Date – ‘when’ we are charging you for
Rent – the weekly or monthly charge we make for your home
Other Charges – the weekly or monthly charge we make for services such as service or support charges (see below)
Benefit Payments – Housing Benefit payments made direct to your Landlord
Other Payments – these are payments made by you through cash, direct debit, post office, standing order, paypoint payments, etc
Adjustments – rent adjustments, changes to the rent charged or court costs
Balance – the amount of money you need to pay (arrears) or we need to pay you (credit).
Where housing benefit covers your charges this money may be due from, or owed to, the benefits office.
'Rent free’ weeks
We set your rent for the year and then collect it over 48 weeks, leaving four weeks when rent does not have to be paid. This covers the times of year when people generally need a little extra cash.
Please note that if you are in arrears you need to make payments during these weeks in order to reduce or clear your debt.
If you want to challenge your rent level
If you want to challenge the level of your rent, you can approach the Rent Assessment Committee. However, you need to be aware that they could also adjudicate that your rent is too low. Our local panel is:
Eastern Rent Assessment Panel
Great Eastern House
Tenison Road
Cambridge CB1 2TR
Tel: 0845 100 2616 or 0122 3505112
Email: eastern.rap@communities.gsi.gov.uk
How service charges are worked out
Some residents pay a separate charge - called a service charge - for their warden and alarm call services, heating and septic tanks.
At the end of each year we set the amount of the service charge we will ask you to pay for the following year. We will give you 4 weeks notice in writing.
We are only allowed to make reasonable service charges. If you think your service charge is unreasonable, you may be able to apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.
Support charges and how the Supporting People grant works
Support services cover a wide range of things from maintaining the security of your home to general counselling. When you signed up to your tenancy agreement you accepted the level of support services we make available to make sure you can live as independently as possible.
The Government expects us to review these services on a regular basis and will fund some of them through the Supporting People grant. For people who live in sheltered schemes or older person’s properties who were resident before this grant was introduced in April 2003, currently have some of their charges paid for by us.
Claiming housing benefit
If you want to claim housing benefit you need to apply to the Council who administer housing benefit. You can get advice on housing benefit from us or the Council.
Difficulty in paying your rent
We have a firm but fair policy on rent arrears. However, we do not believe it is fair to those tenants who do pay their rent to allow others not to.
If you are having difficulties, please contact your housing officer as soon as possible. We do provide a debt management service.
As a last resort we can take action to evict those who do not pay their rent.
