Rents are reviewed annually as specified in your tenancy agreement. The amount we can increase rents by is regulated by the government and linked to the consumer price index (CPI) which tracks the average increase in costs that consumers pay for goods and services.  

 CPI is the consumer price index (published monthly by the Office for National Statistics). The rent regulations require the use of the CPI for September 2023, which was 6.7%. Rents are increased by CPI plus 1%. 

Shared Ownership rents are an exception to this, they are  linked to the Retail Price Index (also published monthly by the Office for National Statistics), which in September 2023 was 8.9%. Consequently, Shared Ownership rents will increase by 9.4%. 

This means that the rent increase applied to Halton Housing rents (excepting shared ownership units) in April 2024 will be 7.7%.

Example rent review calculation:

Note: The example above is only for illustration purposes. Your actual weekly or monthly rent and service charge may be different.

CPI is the consumer price index, published monthly by the Office for National Statistics.

The CPI measures how much the average cost of a ‘basket’ of household consumer goods and services has changed over time.

For more detail visit the ONS website.

For rent calculation purposes the September CPI is used. The CPI for September 2023 was 6.7%.

If you pay by Direct Debit and/or Housing Benefit

Your payments will be adjusted automatically to reflect your new rent and service charges so you don’t need to do anything.

If you are already receiving Housing Benefit and do not live in Halton Borough, you need to inform your local authority housing benefit team of the change in your rent.

If you pay by Standing Order
You will need to contact your bank in advance of your next payment to ask them to adjust your payment.

If you pay by Universal Credit
You need to pay the new rent and report your rent increase to the DWP through your online UC account on 1st April or as soon as possible after that date – no later than the end of your monthly assessment period (MAP). If you get your Universal Credit paid direct to Halton Housing, you will still need to report the increase. We have enclosed a guide to show you how to do this. If you don’t report the change, the DWP will not increase the housing cost element of your UC.

If you pay online, by phone or text, by post or at a pay point
You will need to adjust what you pay to the amount stated in your letter.

There are many easy ways to pay your rent - you can see them all here.

If you would like help changing the way you pay, get in touch.

We are committed to supporting you when you face financial difficulties and encourage you to contact us straight away if you are struggling.  We have a range of help available from specialist teams here to help you agree affordable repayment options to advice on claiming benefits, maximising your income, and reducing debts to manage repayments. Get in touch with our Welfare Benefit/Money Advice Team on 0303 333 0101.

Your rent helps pay for the services we provide to you.

For more details, please see our ‘Rent increase explained 2024-2025 leaflet’ you received alongside your rent increase notification letter.

Some tenants pay charges for extra services, particularly in blocks of flats, estates or sheltered housing schemes.

If you do pay a service charge, your rent letter will include your service charges for 2024/2025 and whether there is an increase.

Service charges are not regulated in the same way as rents; service charges reflect the actual cost of providing the service, so service charges can increase (or sometimes decrease) based on inflation (for fixed service charges), or changes in the cost of contracts or service needs.

For the year commencing April 2024, Halton Housing will be capping service charge increases. This cap will ensure that, even if the cost of delivering the service exceeds it, customers will pay no more than an additional £3.00 per week for services than they did in 2023.

An ‘eligible’ service charge is one which under current regulations may be paid as part of claim for housing benefit or universal credit. These are broadly speaking charges for ‘communal’ services such as grounds maintenance and cleaning of communal areas. 

An ‘ineligible’ charge is one which housing benefit or universal credit will not pay. These are generally referred to as ‘personal’ charges, for example heating and hot water or water rates, which are paid for services within the home as opposed to communal areas.