Changes to rent from April 2024

Guidance on your rent from April 2024. This includes information about changes to your rent and why this is happening, how we use your rent and what support is available if you’re struggling to pay your rent.

Changes to your rent

If you’re a social housing resident, we follow rules set by the government when we calculate any changes to your rent each year.

The government usually sets your rent based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September, plus 1%. The CPI is a commonly used measure of inflation, which measures changes in the prices of goods.

In September, the CPI was 6.7%. This means we’ll be increasing your rent by 7.7% from April 2024.

The government has confirmed that benefits will increase in line with inflation. If you use Housing Benefit, Universal Credit or another form of benefits to pay your rent, you will see these payments rise from April onwards.

If you’re a Shared Owner, your rents are linked to another measure of inflation – the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus an uplift of typically between 0.5% and 2%. The terms of your rent increase are explained in your lease.

If you live in another form of rented housing, different rules may apply.

We will write to you by the end of February confirming your new rent from April onwards.

If you’re worried about paying your new rent from April, or your current rent, then please contact us as soon as possible – we have services to help you manage your money and maximise any benefits you may be entitled to, ahead of the change.

Why we’ve increased your rent

As a charitable housing association, all the money we make through the rent you pay is reinvested into homes and services through activities like managing and carrying out day-to-day repairs on your home, as well as delivering bigger works to make long-term improvements, like replacing roofs, windows, bathrooms and kitchens.

Unfortunately, rising inflation also means that the cost of the materials we use to carry out works to existing homes, and build new ones has also gone up. 

For example, our average cost of a repair compared to last year has gone up by 7%.

We have to balance keeping rents as low as possible, whilst making sure we can fund essential maintenance and continue to improve the quality, safety and environmental efficiency of our resident’s homes.

We consulted with our Resident Services Board, a formal committee of L&Q residents, when setting the rent increase. Although it was a difficult decision for us to make, they agreed the increase was necessary for us to continue making essential improvements to our existing homes and services.

We make every effort to give residents value for money. Our social and sheltered rents remain at or below the government rent cap for social housing and we ensure that our rent remains significantly cheaper than market rent levels.

We use local income levels to help us calculate any changes to your rent to make sure these remain affordable. However, if you are having difficulty paying your rent, we’re here to support you. 

What to do if you’re having difficulty paying your rent

If you’re experiencing difficulties paying your rent or any other personal circumstances are making this difficult for you, please get in touch with our Income Collection team as soon as possible.

We’re here to support you where we can, including putting in place a payment plan if you need one to help you manage your rent payments. Just call us on 0300 456 9996 (option 2 followed by option 1). Our offices are open from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday.

If you’re struggling with your finances, you can also contact our Pound Advice service for help. The service is funded by our Foundation and run by an organisation called We Are Digital. Trained staff will be able to help you manage your finances, with independent and confidential support. Last year, Pound Advice helped residents secure over £10 million in additional benefits.

If you would like to access any of the Pound Advice services, just email or call them directly on 0203 475 2221. Alternatively, you can visit the Pound Advice website.

You can also find lots of useful information and tips on our cost of living support page, including:

• money help and support
• employment support
• energy usage tips
• warm hubs
• our help and advice pages 

How we use your rent

Last year, we received £545m from social, supported, intermediate market rent and shared ownership rents.

However, the amount we spend on managing and maintaining homes, as well as paying interest costs on loans that support us to invest more in existing homes and services has increased due to inflationary pressures.

This chart shows you a breakdown of how every pound of our rental income is spent: 

Our expenditure is split across the categories below:

• Housing management, including the costs of running our housing management and customer service teams, as well as administrative activities associated with managing your tenancies and homes
• Routine maintenance activities, like day-to-day repairs
• Investment in homes, including major works to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of our homes
• Interest payments on loans, which we take out to help us invest in existing and  
  new homes
• Other expenses, like funding local projects that improve people’s lives and create opportunities in their communities through the L&Q Foundation

This year’s increase will help us to continue to invest in our existing homes as part of our Major Works Investment Programme. We’re making excellent progress on this and are planning to complete 13,235 works by April 2024. 

Challenging your new rent

If you're not happy with your amended rent you may also have a right to appeal it.

There are details about how to appeal on the official notice (also called ‘form 4’) that are included in your rent review letter.

To appeal, you must give the notice (form 4) to the Tribunal before your new rent is due to take effect.

Please note that not everyone is eligible to appeal in this way. If you have a clause in your tenancy agreement that states that your rent may be reviewed annually, you may not be able to appeal to the Tribunal.

If you aren’t sure about this, contact our customer service centre using the below details.