Rent & Service Charges

Your rent

Paying your rent

The council, through Homes for Islington, does its best to keep rent increases as low as possible. This depends partly on all tenants paying their rent regularly.

You must pay all your rent, when it is due, every time. If you do not, you will be breaking the terms of your tenancy agreement and the council will take steps to evict you.

Please keep to your payment arrangement and help to keep rents as low as possible for everyone.

This page explains how your rent is made up and how to pay it. It also explains about claiming housing benefit.

WHAT ARE YOU CHARGED FOR?

For information on what to do if you get behind with your rent payments, see Rent arrears

A weekly charge is made for your home, which may include some or all of the following, depending on which services you receive:

Basic rent – the charge for providing your home
Water rates – the charge for water and sewerage collected on behalf of the water company
Charges for heating and water if your rent has communal heating
Amenity charges for other services, for example, concierge scheme, closed circuit television

What your rent pays for
The rent is used to provide, maintain, manage and repair your home and covers estate cleaning, grounds maintenance, provision of communal and estate lighting (where relevant).

CHANGES IN RENT AND OTHER CHARGES

Any changes in the amount of rent and charges you pay usually come into effect in April. We write to you giving you reasonable notice. This letter is called a Notice of Variation. The most recent rent increase information is outlined in Rent increases 2009 (pdf file 284Kb)

WHEN TO PAY YOUR RENT

It is a condition of your tenancy that your weekly rent payment is due every Monday. If you prefer to pay your rent fortnightly or monthly you can, but this must be agreed with your area housing office. However, payments must still be made in advance and not in arrears.

Your rent statement
These are sent out 4x a year in June, September, December and March. They are mailed out with the quarterly tenant/leaseholder Newsletter. The March statement also contains the new rent details due from the first Monday in April as we no longer send out separate 'weekly charges notification letters' to tenants in March. This lists:

• All charges due
• A breakdown of your current weekly rent/charges'
• What you have paid since your last rent statement
• Any housing benefit transactions
• Any other adjustments
• The balance on your account

Check this carefully. If you have any questions contact your area housing office. You can also ask them for a current rent balance at any time. As far as possible this can be provided at the office, if you provide proof of identity, or will be sent to your home.

If your rent account is in credit because you have paid too much, apply to your area housing office for a refund. They will check your account and where appropriate will confirm the credit with the Housing Benefit team. If the credit is correct, they can arrange for you to be sent a cheque. Alternatively, you can leave it to clear your future rent.

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