Rent and service charges

Your rent helps pay to keep your home well-maintained and safe. It also helps build new homes and pay for tenancy-related services. Every year the rent you pay to us will be reviewed. This only happens once a year, no more.

Did you know:

• Last year, we collected £39 million in rent and other charges from 7,143 homes. This works out an average of £105 per week per home.
• The money we get from rent helps make our homes and services better.
• The government tells us how much rent we can charge.
• Rent makes up 74p out of every £1 of our annual income.

What your rent pays for:

• Repairs: over £10 million was spent on repairing and maintaining homes.
• Keeping you safe: over £2 million was spent on making sure homes are safe with checks for gas, electric, and fire safety.
• Saving energy: over £2 million was spent on things like insulation and new boilers to help save energy.
• Building new homes: £40 million was spent on building new homes.
• Support: rent also helped fund local groups, projects, and support services for tenants, like help with bills, mental health, and finding jobs and training.

What your rent does not pay for:

• Bills: such as your Council Tax, water, energy, and broadband.
• Public space: your local council manages public roads, pavements, and open spaces.
• Personal items: you are responsible for things like your own appliances, carpets and furniture.

Services charges:

• Service charges cover things like cleaning, gardening, or lighting in shared areas.
• You may pay for extra support services if you live in an independent or supported housing scheme.

What date does the new rent start?

From Monday 7 April 2025

When are the rent-free weeks? Current year (2024/25)

Monday 10 March 2025

Monday 17 March 2025

Monday 24 March 2025

Monday 31 March 2025

New financial year (2025/26)

Monday 09 March 2026

Monday 16 March 2026

Monday 23 March 2026

Monday 30 March 2026

Under your tenancy agreement, ‘rent-free’ weeks are provided because the annual rent is calculated and divided over 48 weeks. This allows tenants whose rent accounts are clear to have ‘rent-free’ weeks.

However, if you are in arrears, you must make a payment to reduce the arrears during these weeks. If you are finding it hard to pay your rent, then please let us know. Our friendly team are here to help.

What date does the new rent start?

From Monday 7 April 2025

When are the rent-free weeks? Current year (2024/25)

Monday 10 March 2025

Monday 17 March 2025

Monday 24 March 2025

Monday 31 March 2025

New financial year (2025/26)

Monday 09 March 2026

Monday 16 March 2026

Monday 23 March 2026

Monday 30 March 2026

Under your tenancy agreement, ‘rent-free’ weeks are provided because the annual rent is calculated and divided over 48 weeks. This allows tenants whose rent accounts are clear to have ‘rent-free’ weeks.

However, if you are in arrears, you must make a payment to reduce the arrears during these weeks. If you are finding it hard to pay your rent, then please let us know. Our friendly team are here to help.

What date does the new rent start?

From Monday 7 April 2025

When are the rent-free weeks? Current year (202024/25)

Monday 23 December 2024

Monday 31 March 2025

New financial year (2024/25)

Monday 29 December 2025

Monday 30 March 2026

Under your tenancy agreement, ‘rent-free’ weeks are provided because the annual rent is calculated and divided over 50 weeks. This allows tenants whose rent accounts are clear to have ‘rent-free’ weeks.

However, if you are in arrears, you must make a payment to reduce the arrears during these weeks. If you are finding it hard to pay your rent, then please let us know. Our friendly team are here to help.

What date does the new rent start?

From Monday 7 April 2025

The core rent is worked out using a formula set by central government. Most rents are at this ‘formula’ level; a small number are below.

Most of those below the target are for tenancies that started several years ago.

The government and the rent standard set out how your rent will be calculated, and this year will use the Consumer Price Index in September (1.7%) plus 1%. For most of our properties, the maximum increase in the rent will be 2.7%.

This is for the following reasons:

• Our rent levels are reasonable and in line with what other providers charge.
• We continue to invest in our existing properties.
• We want to continue developing new affordable housing.

Your service charges are known as fixed service charges. Fixed service charges remain the same throughout the year even if the cost of providing the service changes. Property-related service charges are calculated each year to cover the estimated cost of providing the following year’s service. In some cases, this is the estimated average cost of providing the service averaged over a number of years. The amount charged will be the same regardless of what the actual costs turn out to be.

Support service charges pay for the cost of providing support in certain types of accommodation. For example, in independent living schemes, the support service charge pays for part of the independent living co-ordinator’s cost and the employees who monitor social alarms.

It is your responsibility to inform Housing Benefit of any changes to your rent. However, we will also notify the local council of the change in your rent if

your Housing Benefit is paid to us as your landlord.

They will continue paying Housing Benefit to us on your behalf unless your circumstances change.

You should continue to pay your personal heating and other charges not covered by Housing Benefit where this is included in your rent.

If you have not received written confirmation from the local council of your new benefit entitlement by mid-April, please contact your local benefits office at the local council for details.

If you are entitled to Universal Credit, it is your responsibility to pass the increase information on to the Department of Work and Pensions.

You can do this by signing in to your Universal Credit online account if you have one or call the Universal Credit service centre on 0800 328 9344 (Monday to Friday - 9am to 4pm). You will need to provide the following information on or soon as possible after the 7 April 2025 - the new rent, the new property-related service charge and confirm the charges are weekly.

To work out the amount you have to pay:

1. Look for your total rent figure in the letter we have sent to you
2. Take away the amount of Housing Benefit / Universal Credit housing costs (if paid to us as your landlord) you receive and the remainder is what you should pay.

I have to pay some or all of my rent. What should I do now?

If you pay by Direct Debit, we will automatically increase your payments and send a letter during March to confirm the new amount payable.

If you do not already pay by Direct Debit and wish to set one up contact our Customer Contact Centre on the number below.

You may continue to use your existing swipe card to make payments at the Post Office or PayPoint outlets for the new amount payable.

If you pay through the internet online or by telephone, you should ensure that the amount you pay reflects your rent changes.

We review service charges every year and as it is impossible to know exactly how much services are going to cost; we provide you with an estimate. We base this estimate on the cost of services during the previous year, whilst also considering any expected changes that we know of. These may include changes in service contract costs, inflation and changes to energy prices.

Over the last few years, energy costs have been in the news, and we understand that lots of people are struggling as their cost of living has increased. Energy prices have increased and reducing energy usage can reduce your bills. Things that can help include:

• Not leaving electrical items on ‘Stand-by’ mode
• Only using a washing machine when you have a full load
• Using energy efficient light bulbs

There are many ways you can reduce your energy usage by making simple changes to your homes and habits, which could help you save money. The Energy Saving Trust has a lot of good advice and provides tips on saving energy and energy efficient products. Visit their website.

Some top tips include:

• Turn your heating down by one degree It can save up to 10 percent on your heating bills.
• Keep the temperature in your home between 18°C/65°F and 21 °C/70°F
• Set your radiator valves to three or four. Most radiator valves control a room's temperature by changing the hot water flow to the radiator. These valves are usually marked with scale from zero to six, where zero is off, and five or six is fully open. These valves are often misused as 'on/off' switches, and in rooms which aren't used all day, such as bedrooms or rooms which you don't use regularly, these can often be set too high

More information about saving money and energy can be found on our website at: www.progressgroup.org.uk/hub

We understand that you might have worries or concerns and will support you should you face financial difficulties. Our specialist teams are here for you and can provide guidance on claiming benefits. Visit our cost of living hub for more information. 

You can also access free, confidential and independent support with wellbeing and life’s challenges - Life & Progress.

Your wellbeing and mental health are a priority to us, and we are keen to ensure that our tenants have somewhere to turn when times are tough.

We have partnered with Life & Progress, an independent mental health and wellbeing provider, to launch a free, confidential support and wellbeing service. This service is called Tenant Care.

You can access practical information, resources, and counselling to help you balance your work, family and personal life. 

Tenant Care is a fully-funded support and well-being service providing free, independent and confidential information and advice to tenants. They can help you with:

• Debt management and financial advice
• Legal, childcare, financial/tax advice (limited to 1 call per tenant per year)
• Emotional support from fully trained and qualified counsellors.

The service is available 24 hours a day, every day, by freephone on 0330 094 8845, email, instant messaging and online. More information is available on their website, www.tenantcare.co.uk. Please use the following to access their online service Username: progressgroup Password: tenant