Overcharged rent by housing association

theartfullodger

dtj1990 wrote: »

I have raised the query with the housing association but it takes up to 5 days for a response. I have spoken to a few people this morning who thinks it is strange as housing association/council rents tend to be the same if the flats are the same.

Write (yes, WRITE / email, keep copies) to housing association about this following their complaints process, as outlined on their website.



6 years and you never bothered to do anything about it?

dtj1990

theartfullodger wrote: »

Write (yes, WRITE / email, keep copies) to housing association about this following their complaints process, as outlined on their website.



6 years and you never bothered to do anything about it?

You're a bit confrontational aren't you? I found out about the difference in rent being paid yesterday and getting the tenancy at 21 years old with the figure I pay on it I do not see why I would query it or even ask a neighbour how much they pay...

HampshireH

OP as per the post above do you have an affordable tenamcy or a social. Your tenamcy agreement will tell you.

When a property is empty it is reviewed for rent. This means that if properties are not all let within a period of time (say 6months) then therr is a high chance the rent may vary regardless of affordable or social.

This is because the rents are a % of the local average rental prices.

dtj1990

HampshireH wrote: »

OP as per the post above do you have an affordable tenamcy or a social. Your tenamcy agreement will tell you.

When a property is empty it is reviewed for rent. This means that if properties are not all let within a period of time (say 6months) then therr is a high chance the rent may vary regardless of affordable or social.

This is because the rents are a % of the local average rental prices.

Thanks for your response, I think this is the issue, it seems we are on affordable rent rather than social rent like the rest of the properties, which is annoying but ultimately not an error by the association.

Murphybear

Just in case I am not the only one who doesn’t really comprehend the difference between “social” and “affordable” housing, have a look at the following article from the Guardian, it brought a smile to my face

“In the good old days, councils and housing associations built social rented housing – often called council housing. It was a simple idea in which rents were based on a formula that combined local wages and local property values so that, for much of southern England, rents would be set at around 50% of local market rents – even lower in very expensive areas. Social housing rents allowed people to work without being dependent upon housing benefit.

No more. Now, councils and housing associations have been told to replace social rented housing with a new product called, confusingly, affordable housing.

In a move worthy of George Orwell's Ministry of Truth, affordable rent will be higher than before, set at up to 80% of the local market rent. Across whole swathes of southern England affordable rented properties will simply not be affordable to people on low incomes.”

Just_Dave

Different rent levels may apply.....affordable rent, social rent, intermediate rent & market rent. Ask which is yours.

Shelldean

My sister and I live in identical house owned by the same housing association.
Both in same location too.

Ours rents have never been the same.

Housing association when questioned said they ask for rent that's relevant at the initial start.of tenancy.

My tenancy is quite a bit longer than hers.

Not sure what the difference is, but is not in the region of £250.
More like £50 difference a month.

And for a while hers was much lower than mine due to an admin error when doing rent increase letters. But last time I checked that had rectified itself and mine was lower.

ethank

The Government has under The Localism Act 2011 enabled social landlords to let properties at differing rent levels in order to fund the building of new homes.

These changes will mean that there may be similar properties advertised with different rents and with different tenancies available.

A social rent is based on a rent formula set by the Government and is usually less than affordable rent. An affordable rent is 80% of the market rent (what private sector tenant’s pay). These rents will be lower than private sector rent levels but could be higher than traditional 'social rent'.

Mimz94

dtj1990 said:

Morning all,

Just want to see if anybody has any past experience/knowledge they can pass on please.

I was speaking with our neighbours (housing association flat) and it seems that i am paying £250 more a month rent than all of the rest of the flats in our block (6), all of the flats are the same size and we have all been there roughly the same amount of time.

I have confirmed that they do not receive housing benefit so i am not sure this is common practice that my flat should be more expensive than the rest of the block. I am going to query it with the housing officer but i just wanted to see if anybody here knows of anything similar.

Hi I came across your post as I was searching for similar stories. 

My housing association has been charging me over £150 more weekly and all the flats in my block are identical. 

I was a teen when I was forced to sign the tenancy as I would be making myself intentionally homeless if I rejected the offer of the home. 

It’s 4 years on now and my rent has gone up each April and I’m now paying £301 each week and my neighbours are paying £130-£150 weekly. I would also like some direction of where to go for assistance . 

[Deleted User]

Mimz94 said:

dtj1990 said:

Morning all,

Just want to see if anybody has any past experience/knowledge they can pass on please.

I was speaking with our neighbours (housing association flat) and it seems that i am paying £250 more a month rent than all of the rest of the flats in our block (6), all of the flats are the same size and we have all been there roughly the same amount of time.

I have confirmed that they do not receive housing benefit so i am not sure this is common practice that my flat should be more expensive than the rest of the block. I am going to query it with the housing officer but i just wanted to see if anybody here knows of anything similar.

Hi I came across your post as I was searching for similar stories. 

My housing association has been charging me over £150 more weekly and all the flats in my block are identical. 

I was a teen when I was forced to sign the tenancy as I would be making myself intentionally homeless if I rejected the offer of the home. 

It’s 4 years on now and my rent has gone up each April and I’m now paying £301 each week and my neighbours are paying £130-£150 weekly. I would also like some direction of where to go for assistance . 

Phone citizens advice or shelter