Rent and service charges: England

The amount you pay will depend on the type of agreement, start date of tenancy and type of property 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 would allow housing providers to increase social housing rent by up to Consumer Price Index (CPI)+1% per year and this policy remains in place until 2025. CPI in September 2023 was 6.7% and the increase in April 2024 will be 7.7%.

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. Increases will be based on Consumer Price Index of 6.7% as of September 2023 +1%, giving an increase of 7.7%. 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 will be based on the Retail Price Index (rather than the Consumer Price Index) of 8.9% as of September 2023 +1%, giving an increase of 9.9%. 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 properties will be determined by the relevant clause in your lease or tenancy agreement. This will say what increase can be applied to the charges.

53-week year

Please note, for weekly charged Customers, the financial year that runs from 1 April 2024 to 6 April 2025 has 53 Monday’s and therefore 53 weekly charges. For those Customers whose agreement states they have rent-free weeks, you will be charged either 51 or 49 times, depending on the number of rent-free weeks stated in your agreement.

Please click here to register or log in to manage your account online. 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: we use the latest security software and password protection
• No more paper: reduce post, cut down filing and help the environment
• Keep up to date: change personal details like telephone numbers and email addresses

You can email inclusion@placesforpeople.co.uk or call us on 01772 666246 and ask for a call back from our Digital Inclusion Team if you need help setting up your online account.

Rent is our main source of income and helps to pay for maintenance, repairs, and housing management, as well as supporting us to continue investing in communities. Income from rents helps us to keep essential services running and to meet the demand for repairs. In addition, we are continuing to invest in existing homes through major improvement work programmes and are building new homes to meet the increasing need for affordable housing.

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

• 01 April 2024
• 23 December 2024
• 30 December 2024
• 31 March 2025

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

• 23 December 2024
• 30 December 2024

apart from some tenancies in Sheffield, where the rent-free weeks will be the weeks commencing:

• 01 April 2024
• 30 December 2024

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.

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 click here to find help and support available to help with finances.

If you do not receive Housing Benefit or Universal Credit at the moment, you should check whether you are now entitled to it following the change to your charges by visiting www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators or by calling the Universal Credit Service Centre on 0800 328 5644.

The total rent you pay will depend on the type of property and tenancy you have. We have different property and tenancy types and tenancy start dates within the same areas. This sometimes means a difference in rent charges where the properties and tenancy types are not the same. Your rent is reviewed in line with the terms set out in your tenancy agreement.

Universal Credit 

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

Please do not report the change until on or after 1 April 2024. 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  

If you claim Housing Benefit, please contact your Local Authority to report this change. Some local Housing Benefit departments may accept an email or a posted copy of the letter, 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 2024.

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, please click here to download a Direct Debit mandate or call us on 01772 666 444, and we can set this up for you over the telephone. 

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 reflects the cost of maintaining our buildings and looking after the shared areas around your home. We have reviewed all our service charges this year and made savings where we can however many of the costs covered by the charge have increased this year (e.g., the cost of materials for repairs) and as a result your service charge may need to increase.

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.

We want to ensure that you can clearly see what makes up the service charge cost for your property so going forward we will break this down, so it's clear what the charge relates to.

The service charges will be assessed in line with housing benefit regulations and any eligible charges will be paid for by Housing Benefit.

We will let you know if your services can be paid by Housing Benefit in the breakdown included with your increase letter. Services noted as “HBE” (Housing Benefit Eligible) can be paid, and those noted 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 a query with any of your service charges eligibility you should contact the Universal Credit Service Centre on 0800 328 5644 in the first instance.

Annual charges are based on the usage taken from meter readings and allow for inflation and contract prices set by the utility companies.

For your safety we have reviewed the tests and checks of safety equipment located in our properties. At some of our properties this has resulted in an increase in the frequency of visual checks and operational tests of equipment, including water outlets, fire safety equipment, play areas and lifts. This also includes the annual auditing of the health and safety contracts. The increase in frequency and increase in checks has meant some service charges have increased.

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

This is to cover management costs such as our people’s time, systems, and offices in order to deliver the services provided. 

This can include the repair, replacement or provision of communal carpets, furniture, grit boxes, washing machines or washing lines. 

A tree survey is carried out on all our communal trees in your Community every three years and the cost for this is split over three years so you will always see this charge. In addition, we also charge for the cost of maintaining the trees which is specified in the survey results. The tree surveys and works provided by Places for People are required to ensure the health and safety of trees within the land owned by Places for People to make our Communities remain clean, safe and tidy for our Customers.

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

• Use our online Live Chat system
• 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).

Service charges are payable by homeowners on a yearly basis for services provided. The services you are charged for will be outlined in your lease or transfer. We’re responsible for maintaining our buildings and looking after the shared areas in and around our blocks and estates. You will therefore contribute to the cost of this through the service charge payment.

These services depend on where you live and may include but are not limited to the following:

• Maintenance charges, including contributions to maintenance reserves, day to day repairs and annual/cyclical work
• Insurance
• Management fee which is a contribution towards our costs for managing the services that you receive.

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.

Service charges are payable by homeowners on a yearly basis for services provided.  The services you are charged for will be outlined in your lease /transfer document. We are responsible for maintaining our buildings and looking after shared areas in and around our blocks and Communities. You will therefore contribute to the cost of this through the service charge payment.

Examples of services that may be funded through the service charge:

• Cleaning and landscaping
• Maintenance of communal areas, including painting, replacement of communal windows and roof repairs.
• Lift maintenance
• Utilities – gas, electricity and water.
• Health and safety of schemes, including inspection, fire safety, legionella testing, electrical checks.
• Home Ownership Management Fee (see below).

In addition, some homeowners are also charged a service charge to cover:

• Building insurance
• A contribution towards a reserve fund.

Your service charge reflects the cost of maintaining our buildings and looking after the shared areas around your home. We have reviewed all our service charges and made savings where we can however many of the costs covered by the charge have increased this year (e.g., the cost of materials for repairs) and as a result your service charge may have increased.  There have also been changes to insurance premiums and home ownership management charges.

The insurance company, Zurich Municipal (ZM) continually monitors the claims it receives and analyses this information to identify trends. Over recent years, because of the global increase in costs of materials and labour, ZM has seen a continuing increase in the cost of claims (as has the rest of the insurance industry), which is driving claims inflation up.  This has a direct impact on the cost of claims which insurers need to take into consideration when setting premiums and are now at a point where a significant increase is being applied.

In addition to the rate increase, Insurers have also increased the policy excess for each and every claim to £350 and for escape of water claims £500. Subsistence excess remains at £1,000.

Places for People will carry out a review of Leaseholder/Homeowner Building Insurance in 2024 to ensure we are achieving best value for money.

Landlords can charge management charges if they are reasonable (Homeowner Management Charge on your letter). Examples of chargeable services include:

• Collecting rents and service charges
• Service charge accounting
• Our People costs
• Managing routine enquiries
• Buying and managing direct services
• Monitoring service contracts
• Inspecting areas
• General property management.

We have reviewed all our management charges across all the properties and Communities we manage, to ensure that a consistent approach to calculating the charges is applied.

The management charges are based on a core charge for all Leaseholders and the number of services which you receive. This means that for some Homeowners the charges may have increased.

Where the charges have increased, Places for People have agreed to provide a discount for existing customers, which is shown as a credit (Discount on Management Charge on your letter).

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

• Use our online Live Chat system
• 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).