Changes to Your Rent

South Lakes Housing is committed to providing you with exceptional service. Over the last four years, we have reduced rents by 1% each year whilst still maintaining our homes to a high standard at the same time as the cost of providing services and maintaining our homes has continued to rise.

From April 2020, all housing associations across the country will be able to increase social and affordable rents by CPI*+1% each year, in line with current Government policy.

South Lakes Housing Board has reviewed our rent charges and net rent will increase by 2.7% from 6 April 2020.  We have carried out our annual rent review, in line with the governments rent setting formula, to calculate this years rent and service charges.

You will receive a letter at the beginning of March that will inform you of your new rent and service charges.

How will the money be used?

We will use the extra money to invest in a 30-year programme of improvements to keep your home to a decent standard and help build some much-needed new affordable homes in the area as well as continuing to invest in communities.

How South Lakes Housing spend every £1

  • Planned & routine Maintenance- 28p
  • Management and corporate costs- 29p
  • Services costs, including ground rents, care alarms and communal areas- 5p
  • Depreciation and impairment charges- 11p
  • Interest on loans- 6p
  • Revenue surplus for re-investment- 20p

IMPORTANT

Please note that the charges above do not deduct any Housing Benefit or Universal Credit payments that you may be entitled to.

What you need to do now

  • If you pay by direct debit we will notify your bank of the new amount to be paid. You do not need to contact your bank. Please note that if you have an agreement for paying off any arrears, your new payment will include the current agreed amount.
  • If you pay using a payment card or over the phone (0300 303 8619) you will need to adjust your payments to cover the new amount due from the 6th If you are currently paying an agreed extra amount to pay off rent arrears, your new payment needs to include this extra amount, over and above the new rent due.
  • If you receive full Housing Benefit towards your rent and this is paid directly to SLH we will notify the Housing Benefit department of the new amount due.
  • If you receive partial Housing Benefit but also make a payment towards your rent, you will need to change your own payments. Please contact the Income Management Team for details of the new amount you should pay after 6th April 2020.
  • If you are claiming Universal Credit you will be prompted to submit your new rent and service charges via a to-do through your Universal Credit journal. Please dont complete this before 6th

Direct Debit

If you do not currently pay by direct debit but wish to do so, you can complete a direct debit mandate by telephoning our Customer Services team.

Rent Statements & My Account

My Account is now available via our website. This is the easiest and most accurate way to check your account balance and is available 24/7. For details of how to register please contact us via email

My Account is the default way to access to your rent transaction history. You will only receive a 6-monthly postal statement if you contact us and opt-in for paper statements.

We are here to help, so if you are having problems paying your rent or if you have any other questions regarding your rent, please contact us via email at customerservices@southlakeshousing.co.uk

 

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