Paying your rent

The government produced a formula for setting rents, which takes into account:

• the value of the property
• the number of bedrooms in the property
• local earnings

Changes in your rent

We will give you 4 weeks' written notice if there any changes to your rent. If you are claiming housing benefit, the council's benefits team will recalculate your entitlement automatically and inform you of any changes.

Tenant service charges

In addition to your rent, you will also pay service charges. These charges cover:

• communal heating
• communal lighting
• communal cleaning
• communal electric
• site warden / manager

We calculate the unit cost for each service and then recover these costs by allocating the total cost between the number of tenants.

Costs are revised annually and individually on your rent account statement. We provide 4 weeks’ written notice of any change.

Rent-free weeks

There are generally 4 'no rent due' weeks every year for secure tenants when there are 52 Mondays within the period 1 April to 31 March.

These are during the:

• May bank holiday weeks
• August bank holiday weeks
• the week that Christmas falls in
• and the final week of the period - the end of March each year

In the year 2019 - 2020 there are 53 Mondays, and 5 'no rent due' weeks.

If any tenant is in arrears they are encouraged to continue paying during those weeks in order to reduce their balance.

Tenants get a 'calendar card' every April, showing the dates of the rent weeks. New tenants get a calendar card when they sign up for their tenancy.

Rent payment dates April 2019 to March 2020