Rent and other charges
Rent is the amount of money you must pay to live in your home. You will have been told about how much rent to pay when you signed your tenancy agreement. You must pay the rent for your home on time.
Rent is the most important bill to pay.
There are different ways to pay your rent. Visit our Service charges webpage for more information.
Your responsibilities
When you signed your tenancy agreement, you made an agreement to pay your rent in full and on time.
If you are having problems, please don’t just hope that the problem will go away by itself. Contact us as early as possible as we can help. Early contact will avoid court action, and you possibly losing your home.
We may be able to...
- Provide you with advice about debt or money management
- Help you claim any benefits you may be entitled to
- Set up an affordable repayment agreement
If you continue to not pay your rent, we will take action. We may have to take you to court or in extreme cases, evict you from your home.
Payment dates and amounts to pay
Your rent is due every Monday. You may pay weekly, in advance every two weeks or every month, by setting up a direct debit. Our rent payment calendar gives you details on dates of collections.
When you signed your tenancy agreement, you will have been told what your weekly rent is. The total amount of rent you pay depends on the size of your home, it location and the services nearby.
Your rent (or other charges) may be increased or decreased from time to time. This is usually once a year. You will be told of any change in the amount of rent you must pay.
Joint tenants
If you are joint tenants, you are each responsible for paying the rent. If one of you stops living at the property, you will still remain jointly responsible for any rent that is owed whilst your name remains on the tenancy agreement.
Universal Credit and housing benefit
Housing benefit helps you pay your rent if you’re on a low income. If you receive housing benefit, you must ensure it is claimed and paid to us.
The government has introduced Universal Credit, a new benefit that will eventually replace six existing benefits with a single monthly payment if you're out of work or on a low income. This payment will go directly to you.
If you receive housing benefit, this will be paid directly to you instead of coming direct to us (as it does currently). It is your responsibility to ensure you pay your rent yourself from this Universal Credit payment.
Visit our Universal Credit webpage for more information.
Other charges (including service charges)
The total amount of rent you pay may include other charges for additional services. These are called service charges.
If any of these charges apply, they will be listed within:
- your tenancy agreement
- the letter you received offering you a tenancy and
- in any further letters you receive about changes to your rent
We may - after consulting with you and other tenants affected - increase, add to, reduce or vary the services we provide.
This may include adding services that you have not previously paid a service charge for at all.