Rent and Service Charges Explained
Your Rent and Service Charges
The Salvation Army Housing Association aims to set rent that covers our costs but which you can afford if you are on a low income. In 2002, the Government introduced a new formula for setting a target for your rent and the association has 10 years to ensure that your rent meets the Government target.
The target rent is set taking into account:
• The value of your home
• Earnings in the area that you live.
SAHA has set out a plan for how it will change rents to meet the Government targets. This means that your rent needs to go up each year by more than inflation, or it may mean that your rent does not go up at all or by less that inflation.
Before we change your rent, we have to give you a month’s written notice. For the majority of tenancies the rent changes on the first Monday in April.
If you are a secure tenant, the Rent Officer Service sets a maximum rent every two years. We suggest the rent we want to charge and the Rent Officer decides if this is fair. If you think your rent has been set too high, you have the right to appeal to the Rent Officer Panel. Often SAHA sets the rent at less than the amount set by the Rent Officer Service and we cannot set a rent that is higher.
If you are an assured tenant, an assured shorthold tenant or a licencee, we set your rent. Rent. We will usually change your rent once a year. If you think we have set your rent too high, you can appeal to a Rent Assessment Committee, but you should always seek advice first. By law, the Rent Assessment Committee has to set a “market rent”. This can often be higher than the rent we actually want to charge you.
You can get advice from a local law centre or Citizens Advice Bureau about making an appeal against a rent rise.
Service Charges
Sometimes the Association charges a service charge in addition to the basic rent, usually if you live in a block of flats or on a small estate.
Service charges are set according to the cost of the services provided, which are listed on your tenancy agreement and may include, for example, communal garden maintenance, or cleaning communal parts of a block of flats or provision of a scheme manager in a sheltered scheme.
We aim to keep service charges as low as possible whilst providing an acceptable service.
Service charges are reviewed annually to take account of any change in costs. If a change is required, you will be consulted on the services that will be included in the service charge for the following financial year and you will be given four weeks notice in writing before any changes are made.
Water Rates/Council Tax
With most types of agreements your rent does not include payment for water rates; this is an additional cost to you. The Customer Services Centre can advise you whether your rent contains an element for water rates. The water company will send you their demand for water charges each year. You can arrange to pay by instalments. Water rates are not eligible for Housing Benefit.
With the exception of licence agreements, your local authority council tax department will send out your council tax bill each April and you should check whether or not you are entitled to a rebate. Again it is possible to pay by instalments.
