UC won't pay 53 weeks rent

devon_guy

So, I rent from a housing association and have been sent my rent increase letter and it states that in this financial year there are 53 weeks payable.  UC have worked out my housing element for 52 weeks and when I contacted them they said "We calculate your housing entitlement by taking your weekly rent amount which we multiply by 52 and divide by 12. We will always use 52 weeks for this so when there is a 53 week year being applied by your landlord, we do not take this into account.

So basically I am being shafted and will have to find a week's rent right?

SimonFF

If I am not wrong 53 weeks can happen every 4 years, but this should have been for previous rent year ending March 2024, not this year.

poppy12345

Yup this usually happens every so often. I had a phone call today from my LA as I also rent from social housing, telling me that by the end of the tax year my rent account will be in arrears due to the calculations so I agreed to pay £15/month to cover this.

A small price to pay considering the large shortfall of rent I was paying in the privately rented property before I moved in Jan. 

KxMx

Correct. 
UC pays rent over 52 weeks. 
For the 53 week years tenants need to pay one weeks rent. 

tacpot12

It's hardly being shafted when the taxpayer has to pay 208 weeks of your rent and you only have to pay 1 week, but even so, it's not the DWP shafting you, but your Housing Association - there might be 53 weeks in the year, but knowing that benefit claimants only get their rent covered for 52 weeks, you would think the Housing Association would write off that one week. They are supposed to be not for profit organisations - time to write to the trustees with a suggestion methinks. 

chrisbur

SimonFF said:

If I am not wrong 53 weeks can happen every 4 years, but this should have been for previous rent year ending March 2024, not this year.

Should not happen that often.  There are 365.2422 days in a year so each year on average will have 1.2422 days extra.  These will build up to an extra week on average every 5.6351 years.  If any landlords are using a leap year as an excuse to charge a week 53 every 4 years they are conning the tenant.

Newcad

Just to be clear here:

There are not 53 weeks in this year.

There are 53 Mondays in this year.
It happens every 5, 6, or 7 years, depending on leap years, and 2024 is one of the years where there are 53 Mondays.

So if/when your rent is due weekly then there are 53 'Rent Payment Due' days which usually Monday for HAs.

If/when your rent is due weekly then UC does short change you on rent by one day each year, every year.
(And by 2 -days in leap years). 7days x 52 weeks = 364 days, but there are 365 days in a year.
It's those one days that accumulate and they show up in a 53 'Rent Payment Due' years.

On a practical - potential Money Saving - note if you pay your weekly rent by monthly Direct Debit:-
The HA's are generally just saying that your new monthly DD this year should be- Rent x 53 / 12
But that's very simple; too simple because it takes no account of your current rent acount balance - so you should check your rent account balance and your DD date..

Mine was over 3 weeks in credit on 1st April 2024 with the next DD due on the 20th.
So my new DDs until 1st April 2025 only had to cover 50 weekly payments and not 53. (Actually a little bit more than that to avoid dipping into the red for a couple of days in my '5 Monday months').

I use a spreadsheet to forcast the coming years rent balance at any week, and using it I worked out what my DD payments this year needed*  to be.
I phoned my HA and got my new DD reduced from the one that they had set by £12 a month. (It's now less than my UC HE will be).

That will now cover the whole year to 1st April 2025 with no arrears.
On Monday19th August 2024 my rent account will be £38 in the red for one day, but as my rent is paid in advance then technically that isn't 'rent arrears', it's a shortfall in advance rent lasting for just 1-day.

*Even with my newly reduced DD payments my rent account will be almost 4 weeks in advance on 1st April 2025 when we get next years rise.
That's because I set the DD amount so as to cover my '5 Monday months' without dipping into the red, except for that once in August.
PS. Everyones '5 Monday Months' will be different depending on your DD date.

gbhxu

Doesn't your HA give you what supposingly are 2 free weeks at Christmas/New Years?

devon_guy

I get 4 rent free weeks a year but as I pay monthly I don't really notice.  So normally it's rent*48/12 but this year it's rent*49/12

kaMelo

devon_guy said:

I get 4 rent free weeks a year but as I pay monthly I don't really notice.  So normally it's rent*48/12 but this year it's rent*49/12

If you're being paid 3 weeks more rent than you're actually liable for, how can that possibly be described as 'being shafted?'

Newcad

gbhxu said:

Doesn't your HA give you what supposingly are 2 free weeks at Christmas/New Years?

No, my rent is due every Monday, no rent 'holiday' for me.

TBH if/when you do get such a rent 'holiday' then you are only paying a little extra in the other weeks to make up.

They are a holdover from the days when you had to go down to the council offices and pay your rent over the counter or had a collector come round each week.
The offices were closed for Christmas/New Year and the rent collectors on holiday, so there was no way to pay your rent and hence the break in payments.