Paying your rent

We know that any increase to your rent won't be good news. However the cost of providing our services has become more expensive so by increasing your rent we're able keep up with inflation, allowing us to continue delivering essential services and maintain our homes.

Making decisions about the amount we need to increase rent by is never easy. Each year it's discussed at length by the Yorkshire Housing Board to make sure it's the right decision for both our customers and the future of the organisation.

All Housing Association rents are increased each year based on a formula we're given by the Government, which is CPI + 1%. CPI stands for Consumer Price Index which measures inflation, taking into account how fast prices on the high street are increasing.

CPI + 1% is the maximum amount your rent can be increased by. We have to use the CPI from September 2023 which was 6.7%, so the maximum rent could be increased by this year is 7.7%.

We'll get in touch with you at least one month before your rent's due to increase, this'll usually be by letter.

If you've had your rent review letter and know you'll struggle to afford the increase, please get in touch with your income officer straight away. Our priority is to support you in your tenancy, and we don't want you falling into rent arrears over the stress of it.

Our money coaches are here to help, whether that's putting together a budget for you so you know what's coming in and going out, or making sure you're maximising your income through additional benefits or grants. There's lots ways we can help.

If you live in one of our shared ownership homes, your rent is set by a clause in the lease and allows an increase of Retail Price Index (RPI) + 0.5%.

Retail Price Index is another measure of inflation used and is usually higher than the Consumer Price Index (CPI). If you're a shared owner, your rent will be increased by 9.4% for 2024.

There are a few reasons why you could be paying a different amount in rent to your neighbour. Two of the most common reasons are that you have a different type of tenancy so your rent is set in a different way, or that your neighbour moved in on a different date and their rent was calculated based on the rent setting formula at the time.

Your rent will increase once a year, and we'll send you a rent increase letter at least one month before it happens so you know how much it'll increase by. Depending when you pay your rent influences when the increase will start.

If you pay your rent weekly:

Your rent will increase either on the first Monday in April or the first Monday in October. There’re a few exceptions to this where the rent is increased on the first Saturday in April, but we'll let you know exactly when your rent will go up in the letter we send you.

If you pay your rent monthly:

Your rent will increase every 12 months, from the date you moved into your home. For example, if you moved in in June your rent will increase in June every year. You can check your rent increase letter for the date of your rent increase.

We know it's still a difficult time with the continued high cost of living, and this might lead you to consider refusing to pay the proposed rent increase. Doing this will result in rent arrears building up on your account and we'll have to take action to recover the unpaid rent that's due.

We always want to avoid this as it may end up with you facing more debt and possible legal fees which would make things more difficult for you financially. You're also at risk of losing your home if you continue to build up arrears by refusing to pay your rent and/or service charges.

In 2024/25 there will be 53 rent payment weeks in the year. This is to keep rent payments in line with the calendar year and happens every five or six years. Why? Because 52 weeks x 7 days is 364 days, then every four years you have a leap year which gives another day, so having a 53 week payment year keeps everything in check. 

Universal Credit monthly payments are based on a 52 week year, so if you receive Universal Credit you'll need to make sure you put money aside to cover the extra week that your Universal Credit payments won't cover. If you're on a monthly tenancy then this won't affect you.

If you're on a monthly tenancy, you're probably on a market rent or intermediate rent tenancy. Your rent increases annually on the anniversary of your tenancy start date and is based on what's in your tenancy agreement. 

Most monthly tenancy agreements will have a rent increase clause stating an increase of CPI (Consumer Price Index) + 1%. The CPI figure used will be from September of the previous financial year (our financial year runs from April to March). 

Garage rents are calculated the same way our home rents are, so if you rent one of our garages your rent will also increase by 7.7%.

Your service charges are based on the cost of providing those services and includes a small administration charge, we don't make a profit from your service charges. Your rent review letter will include a breakdown of any service charges you pay.

The cost of providing services like gardening and cleaning increases year on year for us, so to keep up with the cost of inflation we have to increase the cost to you.

We don't make any profit on our service charges, we only pass on the costs that we incur which includes a small administration charge.

First things first we want find out why the service has dropped so we can put it right for you. Please get in touch with our customer experience centre by calling 0345 366 4404 so our team can investigate it for you. 

Our Customer Voice and Review Committee (CVRC) were involved in the conversations. We also wrote to customers whose service charges would be increasing by more than £1.50 per week to see what they thought about the value for money. Providing a good service is important to us, so if changes need to be made we want to know about them.

You'll find all the information about what you need to do in the rent review letter we'll send you at least one month before your rent's due to increase. It's your responsiblity to sort out your Housing Benefit / Universal Credit claim and you'll need to make sure that the correct amount is paid towards your rent.

For Universal Credit, you'll need to share the details of your new rent with the Department for Work and Pensions through your journal. You'll only be able to do this during the assessment period the your rent charge occurs, and it must be done by the end of the assessment period. 

For Housing Benefit, you can share a copy of the rent review letter we'll send you but we'll let them know of all the new rents, and you'll get a notification of your new entitlement. If you don't receive anything you'll need to get in touch with them directly.

If you pay by direct debit:

We’ll update your payments for you at the right time, and you'll receive a notification letter from Allpay confirming your new payment amount.  It's your responsibility to check that the payment amount on the notification letter is correct and covers all the rent due from yourself.  If it's incorrect, or you're unsure,  please get in touch so we can check it for you.

If you pay by standing order:

Please get in touch with your bank and ask them to change your standing order.

If you think there's been an error or mistake in the way we've calculated your rent increase, please get in touch with our customer experience team who'll make sure it's looked into for you.

If you have any questions about your rent increase we’re more than happy to answer them for you, but we can’t deal with them as part of our complaints policy. This is covered in our Customer Feedback Policy.