Rent changes

If you pay your rent by Direct Debit, we will start collecting the new rent amount automatically on your next rent payment date from 3^rd April 2023.

If you claim Universal Credit, you will need to update your online journal with your new rent amount on 3^rd April 2023 or as soon as possible afterwards.

If you claim Housing Benefit, please contact your local Housing Benefit department to tell them your new rent amount.

There are different ways to pay your rent. If you would like support to pay your rent differently, please get in touch.

Before we set new rent amounts for our customers, we must consider:

• Our obligations to Welsh Government about rent setting
• Resident feedback on affordability
• Our 30-year financial business plan and annual budget setting
• Our rent setting policy
• Local income and earning levels, and local market rents
• Specific property and scheme information (such as demand and energy performance)
• Applicable service charges

This information is presented to our board. They have the final decision on rent changes and make sure that it is under the maximum increase amount set by Welsh Government.

For 2023/24, the Welsh Government capped rent increases at +6.5% to the overall rent roll.

We decided to apply an average increase of 6.4%. It is well below the rate of inflation but reflects the challenging economic conditions in which we are delivering services. This is an average increase, so some individual properties may see slightly higher or slightly lower increases. Please note that 6.4% is an average increase, so some individual properties may see slightly higher or slightly lower increases.

Rent pays for:

• Work to ensure our buildings comply with safety standards
• Repairs and long-term property maintenance such as replacement programmes
• Work to improve energy efficiency at homes
• Staff and contractor salaries

Our rental income is also used to repay loans for building and maintaining homes. While we receive some grant funding to build new homes, we need additional private finance to cover all the costs. We continue to pay loans on homes we already rent out, as similarly to mortgages, these loans are set over long periods of time.

In 2022, residents took part in a rent and cost-of-living survey to help us understand our customers’ views on rent, value for money, and the challenges they are facing now.

The majority told us that their rent is affordable and provides value for money. People also suggested that we consider property specifics and location when setting rents.

We offered all residents the opportunity to consult with us about rent setting and we will continue to do this annually.

Welsh Government provides rent control for ‘social rent’ properties through the Rent and Service Charge Standard, but the amount to charge is decided by the respective community landlord.

The standard runs to 2025 and allows rents to be increased by a maximum of September Consumer Prices Index (CPI) +1% (in aggregate) as long as a number of conditions are met. However, if CPI falls outside of the range 0% to 3%, Welsh Government ‘calls in’ the decision for that year.

For 2023/24 rents, Welsh Government called in the decision and capped the maximum rent increase at +6.5% overall. You can read more about this here: https://www.gov.wales/package-support-promised-tenants-minister-sets-new-social-rent-cap-wales

*CPI is published by the Office for National Statistics. It measures the average change from month to month in the prices of goods and services purchased by most households in the UK. The government uses the CPI as the basis for its inflation target and for uprating of state pensions and state benefits.

Providing value for money is really important to us and we work hard with our partners to try to balance the cost of services with affordability. Similarly to rent, setting service charges has been difficult this year due to the cost-of-living crisis and surge in fuel costs.

Service charges are an analysis of the actual costs to provide each service, and they are adjusted to reflect our best estimate of the cost in the following charging period.

Some service charges are varied by the amount that is used and change year to year based on this, such as water and electricity usage.

Some costs are fixed as they cover the actual costs of purchase and installation, or they are fixed but then revised when a contract is reviewed, such as a lift servicing contract.

Some of our other services are more flexible, such as cleaning of communal areas.

We carry out a consultation about service charges with customers every year to help inform changes and to provide value for money.

Our Money Advice team is here to support you with any money problems you may be experiencing. From budgeting advice and help with benefit entitlements, to support with rent, furniture costs or getting lower mobile phone tariffs, the team is here to help. Please get in touch.