Your rent and service charges

Posted Monday, 28 March 2022

Changes to Rents

Each year we are required to set our rents in line with guidance received from the government. The current guidance is that rents can be increased by the rate of inflation plus an additional 1%. Our Board have therefore approved a rent increase of 4.1% (inflation rate of 3.1% current as of September 2021, plus 1%). This will take effect from Monday 4th April 2022.

Our rents have only gone up just over 4% since 2015 and we know through previous feedback from you that you do believe that we offer value for money. We compare ourselves regularly against other housing organisations and are assured that our rents and service charges are some of the lowest in the country.

In determining what our rent increase should be, we looked at several factors including: how affordable any rent rise would be for our customers and the impact on our services if we chose to vary from the rise the government recommended. We also carried out an exercise to compare our rents with other similar organisations, both in Preston and other areas. We found that our rents were almost 10% lower on average than others.

How will we use the money from the rent increase?

The rent rise will enable us to continue delivering important services to you, including carrying out repairs, maintenance, and improvements to your properties. It will also help us support services that you told us were important, such as tackling antisocial behaviour, supporting with claims for welfare benefits, improving the look and feel of communities, helping reduce or prevent homelessness and building new homes.

Next Steps

In February you will have received a letter detailing your new rent. We recognise that any rises in bills can be challenging, so if you are struggling with your finances please contact us. Our Tenancy Support team are here to give advice on areas such as welfare benefits and budgeting. You can call them on 0800 953 0213 (option 4).