Rent Increase - FAQ's
The cost of providing our services has been increasing.
Our rents are set using Government guidelines and your rent pays for the vital services that
we provide.
For 2025/26 we plan to spend your rent on:
We also receive income from bank loans and other non-housing rents. We will spend 41% of our total income on building sustainable homes, 17% on repairing your homes, 14% on providing quality sustainable homes including energy efficiency works (new windows, wall insulation, heating, new kitchens, and bathrooms etc), 8% on supporting sustainable tenancies, digital services, and general overheads. We plan to spend 11% of our income on employee costs to deliver the above services, and the final 9% is to be used to pay the interest on our loans.
To allow us to continue this investment we need to increase your rent.
A breakdown of our spend from 2023/24 is included in our annual report to tenants.
Housing rents will increase by 2.7%. If you are in a Shared Ownership home the rent will also increase by 2.7%.
For example: If you currently pay £90.00 per week your housing rent will increase to £92.43.
The government allows social housing providers to increase rents in line with the Consumer Price Index, plus up to an additional 1% per year, so that their income keeps up with price inflation.
This also depends on the type of tenancy you have. Shared Ownership rents can go up by the retail price index (RPI) as at the September of the previous year plus 0.5%. This would mean an increase of 3.2% (RPI inflation in September was 2.7% + 0.5%).
In the week commencing 24 February 2025, all our housing customers will receive a letter explaining the revised charges that apply from 7 April 2025.
We can help you with money support and offer benefits advice. Details of the support we offer is available on our Money Support page.
At the moment, nothing. We will notify your housing benefit provider who will then send you a letter with your revised benefit entitlement.
Wait until you receive your letter from your housing benefit provider to see if your new benefit entitlement covers your rent. If you only receive partial Housing Benefit, you will need to deduct this from your total charge and pay the difference.
You will need to update your rent amount on your online journal.
This must be done no earlier than 7 April 2025 and no later than the end of the first monthly assessment period following the changes.
If you need help to do this, you can contact us on 0800 587 4538.
Note: If your UC payment includes a Transitional Protection element, your monthly payments may not increase this year
No, you do not need to take any action. You will receive a letter or email confirmation with the new amount we intend to collect at least 10 days before the first collection.
You will need to advise your bank of the revised amounts you need to pay.
If you need us to confirm the new amount with you, please get in touch via the APP or email incometeam@livin.co.uk
Why not consider paying by Direct Debit? We would update your payments automatically.
You can set up a direct debit by downloading our App:
Do you know you can use our App on a PC? Register now.
Your new water rates are calculated by Northumbrian Water and will be included in the letter you receive week commencing 24 February 2025.
Wait until you receive your letter from your housing benefit provider to see if your new benefit entitlement covers your rent.
If you receive full housing benefit you still need to pay the water charges yourself.
If you only receive partial Housing Benefit, you will need to deduct this from your total charges and pay the difference.
If you have a water meter you will continue to pay your charges directly to Northumbrian Water.