Manage your tenancy

Some of our homes are let at market rent. This means we charge the same as a private landlord would. In setting these rents we take advice from local lettings agencies who are approved by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The rents for some of the homes we build are set at 80% of the market rate inclusive of service charges. We work out the rent for an affordable home before tenants move in. Again, the market rent must be based on the valuation methods recognised by RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors).

Our social rent homes are charged based on local incomes they are an affordable, and secure way of renting your home. Our social rent is not only linked to local incomes, but rent increases are limited by the government, meaning your home stays affordable long-term, so you aren’t priced out of your community by rising rent.

We always ensure we give our customers four weeks' notice in writing if we make any changes to your rent. This means for most of our customers, who have an April review date specified within your tenancy agreement, you will receive notice of any changes to your service charge or rent  issued by the end of the last week in February each year.

If you pay your rent in full via housing benefit any changes in your rent will be reflected in a change in housing benefit. If you’re on partial housing benefit, you will continue to pay a proportion of the rent even when it reduces.

Depending on what type of property you live in, you may pay service charges in addition to your rent. A service charge is a charge made to residents towards the cost of services, works and facilities provided for them beyond the use and occupation of their own home. Service charges relate to the cost of providing and maintaining services specific to a building, estate or area. If a service charge is due this is included in the annual rent review letter.

Where a service charge applies, this charge is calculated each year to only recover the costs of the services provided and we do not make a surplus on any services we provide or service costs we charge.

We aim to provide high quality services that are affordable to people living on low incomes. We’re required to meet our financial, legal, health and safety and other commitments, as well as covering our costs and making proper provision for future repairs.