Everything is going up.
You’ll have seen this when you’re at the shops. We’re seeing it too as prices for the materials we use, the bills we pay, etc have gone up.
For example, since 2020 we estimate the cost of fuel to get our vans out to your homes has gone up by almost a third.
So, we need to update our rents to balance our books.
As normal, rents change in April.
Your annual rent booklet will come through your door at the end of February.
This will tell you exactly what you’ll need to pay. But here’s a general summary to help you plan:
Why do rents change?
Every year, things cost more. So, it costs us more to do the same work.
We need to update rents to cover these changes. The amount they go up is linked to inflation.
If we didn’t, we’d struggle to provide the services you need and to keep investing in your homes. Our top priority is to keep your homes well maintained.
We don’t make a profit from putting your rent up.
Every April, rents will go up for almost everyone who rents a home from a housing association in the UK.
How did you get this figure?
We try to balance covering costs with keeping things affordable.
This is the minimum we feel we need to charge to keep our services going to the same standard and to look after your home.
Working out rent changes is complicated. We look at:
- What we spent last year.
- What we need to invest in our homes (e.g. upgrades for safety regulations, energy saving, etc).
- Anything we can cut to make savings and keep things affordable (e.g. this year, we can’t build as many new homes).
- Changes that might affect what our customers can afford – such as to housing benefit, minimum wages, or pensions.
- Inflation and how much prices are going up. Usually, our rents increase with CPI + 1% when it’s announced in September. CPI was 6.7% in Sept 2023.
- Guidance from the Government. Every year, they advise a limit on how much rents should go up. We don’t go above this.
That’s why we’ve set our rent change at 7.7%.
We’re happy to be transparent and explain this in more detail. Contact us if you’d like to get more information.