Your rent

Your rent is due weekly in advance on a Monday. We also accept payment fortnightly or monthly if agreed. If a fortnightly or monthly arrangement is agreed the rent must still be covered in advance. Rent reviews usually take place each April.

We will send a ‘Notice of Variation’ letter before a change can take effect. If your rent changes, you need to do the following:

• If you're claiming Housing Benefit, please let Buckinghamshire Council know about your rent change as soon as you receive it.
• If you pay via standing order, please amend the amount you pay with your bank. (Your tenant reference number must be present on your payment details.)
• If you pay via Direct Debit, we'll amend the payment amount for you and let you know in writing 12 days before the first revised payment is due to be taken.

You could lose your home if you don't keep up your rent payments. If you fall behind on your payments, we will:

• Contact you to find out what the problem is
• Agree with you a repayment plan that you can afford
• Offer advice about benefits
• Refer you to our Financial Wellbeing Specialist

If you need help with paying your rent, there are a number of ways we can help you - we have our own Financial Wellbeing Team and advice team who will be more than happy to help you through any difficulties you may be having. Find out more about the support they can offer you.

As a registered provider of social housing we must set rents in accordance with the government’s policy statement on rents for social housing issued by the Regulator of Social Housing.

The Rent Standard that is issued by the Regulator sets out the parameters within which we can set our rents. Government policy in relation to social and affordable rents has set the rent increase at September 2023's Consumer Prices Index (CPI) figure of 6.7% plus an additional 1%.

Therefore your rent will be increasing by 7.7% in the 2024/25 financial year.

Our core income is from the rent our tenants pay us for their homes. Our costs have increased, and so we need to increase our rents so we can continue to invest in your homes and provide you with quality services.

We know that the current pressures - the increase in the cost of living, high energy bills, and increasing food costs - are challenging for a lot of households.

We continue to support and signpost our tenants who are financially vulnerable by working with our partner organisations to help them access funding and support provided by the local council and the government.

We also partner with StepChange who are debt advice experts and can help with specialist debt and money budgeting advice.

Our teams have helped many of our tenants that are financially vulnerable with either advice or referral to support organisations: if you're worried about paying your rent please contact us so we can help.

Weekly rents are paid on a Monday, and there will be 53 Mondays in the 2024/25 financial year, which runs from 1st April 2024 until 6th April 2025 inclusive. 31st March 2025 is a Monday, so rent will be due on that day

A standard year is 365 days long, which equals 52 weeks and one day.
A leap year, such as 2024, is 366 days long, which equals 52 weeks and two days.

These 'extra' days are accumulated, and every five or six years they are added to the financial year as an extra week.

No, Universal Credit have confirmed that they won’t pay the rent for the 53rd week of the 2024/25 financial year. This means that if you are paying monthly, you’ll need to pay a little extra each month to cover the 53rd week.

As there are 53 weeks in the 2024/25 financial year, to work out your monthly rent you multiply your weekly rent by 53, then divide by 12.

Yes, you can still pay your rent monthly.

If you are paying 12 equal payments a year, your new monthly payment will be:

Weekly rent x 53 weeks* ÷ 12

* the 2024/25 financial year is a 53-week year.

If you receive Housing Benefit payments directly, you must advise the local authority of the change in charges, and supply a copy of the letter we have sent you as evidence.

If you receive Universal Credit, you must advise the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of the change in charges, and supply a copy of the letter we have sent you as evidence.

Changes to Universal Credit should be notified through your journal between 1st and 5th April 2024. If you do not notify DWP of the change during this period it may affect how much Universal Credit you receive. Please do not report changes before 1st April.

You can report your rent changes by either:

• signing into your Universal Credit account if you have one, or
• calling the Universal Credit helpline (0800 328 9344) if you don’t have an account.

Our priority is to support our tenants to sustain their tenancies, and we want to help prevent rent arrears where possible.

Our Relationship Specialist and Tenancy Sustainment teams are trained to ensure you get the most out of your income and benefits, to help you manage your finances, and to support you through any changes in circumstances. Their services are friendly, free and confidential.

Please get in touch with us as early as possible if you need help to pay your rent. Alternatively, there is advice and support available from your local Citizens Advice.

You do not need to take any action. We will continue to collect your rent using your Direct Debit (and any other arrangement you may already have in place) which will be adjusted to your new rent.

You will need to instruct your bank to change your standing order. If your bank sets up a new standing order (instead of amending the existing one) please make sure they close the old one.

Your service charges have increased by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) + 1%. This means your service charge has increased by 7.7%, in line with current government guidance.

The service charge is based on the cost of the services we provide that are not included in your rent, such as the cleaning and maintenance of communal areas, replacement of scheme assets, and other scheme-specific services. Your schedule of services describes in detail the services we provide to your scheme.

Fixed service charge is where we set the cost of providing services to a home at the beginning of each financial year. You pay the service charge throughout the year, and at no point will there be additional amounts to pay or refunds due.

Eligible and Ineligible Service Charge refer to whether or not a service charge can be paid for through benefits on behalf of the tenant(s). Where personal charges are provided these will be deemed ineligible for government benefit support.

For a statutory definition of a Service Charge, see section 18 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985.