Rent and service charges: England

Rent is our main source of income and helps us to provide essential services such as maintenance, repairs, and housing management. It also enables us to continue investing in our Communities. The income we receive from rents ensures we can keep services running and meet the demand for repairs. We’re also committed to delivering planned improvement works in homes and investing in both existing homes and new builds to address the growing need for affordable housing.

The rent you pay depends on the type of home and tenancy you have. We manage a variety of home and tenancy types with different start dates, even within the same areas. This sometimes results in differences in rent charges where properties and tenancy agreements are not the same. Your rent is reviewed in line with the terms set out in your tenancy agreement.

Please visit our online portal where you can register to manage your account online. You will need your payment reference number for this which can be found on your letter.

Having an online account makes it even easier to manage your home with us. It's free, easy to register and you get all these great benefits:

• Manage your money: check your account, history, and payments
• Access anytime: 24/7, 365 days a year
• Safe and secure: protected with the latest security software and password protection
• Cut down on paper: reduce post, save on filing and help the environment
• Stay up to date: easily update your personal details, such as phone numbers and email addresses

If you need help setting up your account, you can email us at inclusion@placesforpeople.co.uk or request a call back by calling us on 01772 666246.

If you live in a home where you receive a service to any part of your building or Community, we will charge you for the costs to deliver the service. Service charges are affected by costs of employment, overheads, and inflation rates.

Examples of services you may receive are cleaning communal areas, utilities (gas, electricity, water, and telephone) fire safety equipment, lift maintenance, health and safety, communal window cleaning and landscaping.

Your service charge covers the cost of maintaining our buildings and caring for the shared areas around your home. While we’ve worked hard to review all service charges this year and make savings wherever possible, rising costs - such as the price of repair materials - may have resulted in an increase to your charge.

This may be for an existing service not previously included in your service charge, or a new service requested by your local housing team to improve your communal services, for example landscape improvements.

Your annual utility charges are based on current usage and take into account inflation as well as the contract prices set by utility companies. We have renewed our energy contracts for 2025 to ensure we keep charges as low as possible.

This charge covers at least one of the following: lightning protection, door servicing, electronic gate servicing, washer, or dryer ventilation servicing.

The administration charge covers the costs of managing the services we provide. This includes our People’s time, the systems we use, and the offices needed to deliver these services effectively.

This charge helps cover the cost of wear and tear/replacement or provision of communal items such as carpets, furniture, grit boxes, washing machines or washing lines.

Every three years, we carry out a tree survey on all communal trees in your Community. The cost of this survey is divided across three years, which is why you’ll always see this charge. We also collect for tree maintenance, as specified in the survey results.

These tree works and surveys are essential to ensure the health and safety of trees in communal areas. By managing this work, we help keep your Community clean, safe, and tidy for everyone.

All service charges are assessed in line with Housing Benefit regulations to determine which charges, if any, can be covered by Housing Benefit.

We’ll provide a breakdown in your annual increase letter to show you what’s eligible. Services marked as “HBE” (Housing Benefit Eligible) can be paid through Housing Benefit, while those marked as “HBI” (Housing Benefit Ineligible) cannot. This is decided by Housing Benefit Regulations.

The Universal Credit Housing Costs element may include an amount towards service charges. These service charges must be a condition of your rent or leasehold agreement. If you have any questions about the eligibility of your service charges, you should contact the Universal Credit Service Centre on 0800 328 5644 in the first instance.

The amount you pay will depend on the type of agreement, start date of tenancy and type of home you have with us. If you do not know what type of tenancy you have, your tenancy or lease agreement will tell you.

Social housing

In 2019, the Government set a rent policy for social housing in England that allows housing providers to increase social housing rent by up to Consumer Price Index (CPI)+1% per year. This policy remains in place until 2025. With a CPI of 1.7% in September 2024, the rent increase in April 2025 will be 2.7%.

Affordable tenancy

Affordable tenancy rents are set at 80% of the local market rent when a new tenancy is issued. These rents are also regulated by the Government. For April 2025, increases will be based on Consumer Price Index of 1.7% as of September 2024 +1%, resulting in a 2.7% increase.

If there are any chargeable services provided, they are included in the overall rent.

Specialised supported accommodation and temporary accommodation

There are exceptions to the Government’s rent regulation for some social tenancies such as specialised supported accommodation and temporary accommodation. These increases are based on the Retail Price Index (rather than the Consumer Price Index) of 2.7% as of September 2024 +1%, giving an increase of 3.7%.

Other exceptions include Customers living in some student accommodation, registered nursing care, care homes and refuge accommodation.

Market rent, mortgage rescue and shared ownership

The rent review applied to market rent, mortgage rescue and shared ownership homes will be determined by the relevant clause in your lease or tenancy agreement. This will say what increase can be applied to the charges.

If your tenancy includes 4 rent free weeks, rent will not be charged on your account for the weeks commencing:

• 7 April 2025
• 22 December 2025
• 29 December 2025
• 30 March 2026

If you are charged weekly and pay monthly, please multiply the weekly charge by 48 then divide by 12 to get the amount to pay each month.

If your tenancy includes 2 rent free weeks, rent will not be charged on your account for the weeks commencing:

• 7 April 2025
• 22 December 2025

If you are charged weekly and pay monthly, please multiply the weekly charge by 50 then divide by 12 to get the amount to pay each month.

If you have transferred from another housing provider in the last 12 months these rent-free dates may be different to the ones you had previously.

If you pay monthly by Direct Debit your payments are calculated to give you equal instalments each month, with the rent-free weeks taken into account when the instalments are calculated.

Universal Credit

If you claim Universal Credit, you will need to report this change using your online Universal Credit account or by calling the Universal Credit helpline on 0800 328 5644, quoting your new rent and service charge amounts.

Please do not report the change until on or after 1 April 2025 (if you are charged monthly) or 7 April 2025 (if you are charged weekly). When you report this, we are asked to confirm the amounts, and the date of the change. If you report it too early the update will be rejected, and you will need to report it again once the new charge starts. If you report it too late, after the end of your assessment period, Universal Credit will not backdate the change, and you will have to pay the difference.

Housing Benefit

Please contact your Local Authority. Some local Housing Benefit departments may accept an email or posted copy from you, please check with them first.

Direct Debit

We will amend your payment automatically and send you a separate letter confirming your Direct Debit instalment amounts in mid-March 2025.

Standing Order

We cannot change your standing order for you. You need to contact your bank direct. You may be able to do this:

• Online - if you have created an online account with your bank
• By phone – if you have set up telephone banking
• In branch – check current opening hours

If you have a repayment agreement in place, you will need to add this amount onto the new charge.

If you would like to start making payments by Direct Debit, you can download a Direct Debit mandate or call us on 01772 666444, and we can set this up for you over the telephone.

We want to support Customers who may need help if they are experiencing financial difficulty or may find themselves experiencing financial difficulty because of the changes to the charges. If you would like to talk to us about the support available, please contact our Customer Contact Centre on 01772 666246 as soon as possible. You can also find help and resources on our Cost of Living support page.

If you do not currently receive Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, you should check whether you are now entitled to it following the change to your charges.

You can do so by visiting https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators or by calling the Universal Credit Service Centre on 0800 328 5644.

These are the questions asked most often by our Customers. If these do not answer your question, please:

• Send us an email to rent.changes@placesforpeople.co.uk
• Call our Customer Service team on 01772 666246. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm (excluding Bank Holidays).