What is Rent?

What is Rent?
Rent is the amount of money you must pay to live in your home. You must pay your rent on time. When you signed your tenancy agreement you made a legally binding agreement to pay your rent, which enables us to:

• carry out repairs to your home and estate;
• carry out major works and improvements to your home and estate, and
• provide a housing management service to our residents.

How is my rent charged?
The rent year normally begins on the first Monday in April of each year. For a normal rent year you will have 52 weeks of rent, charged over a 50 week period. This allows for the Christmas “pre-paid” period of two weeks.

How do I calculate my rent amounts?
To calculate your monthly rent, multiply your weekly rent by 50 weeks and divide by 12;
To calculate your fortnightly rent, multiply your weekly rent by 50, and divide it by 25.

N.B. Some months in the year contain 5 rent weeks. You cannot therefore calculate your monthly rent by simply multiplying your weekly rent by 4. Calculating your monthly rent in this way will distort your payment amount and the dates when your rent is due.

Why does my rent change every year?
The calculation of social housing rents follows guidelines set out by central government and your rent will usually only change at the beginning of the new rent year.

How is my rent calculated?
Your rent is calculated using a formula provided by central government and considers:

• the value of the property you live in, compared with the national average value of similar types of rented homes;
• local average earnings compared with the national average earnings, and
• property size

Any rent increases are based on the percentage rate of inflation announced by the government in September of the previous year, plus a further 1/2%, plus an amount of no more than £2 per week. This additional amount above inflation is due to a government policy since 2002 to 'harmonise' all social landlord rents for similar properties.