Rents and charges

Denbighshire Housing Rent Review 2024-25

This April (2024) your rent will go up by 6.7%. You should have had a letter at the end of January with all the information. If not, please get in touch with us to let us know.

We thought it would be useful to share some frequently asked questions (FAQs) and information about how we work out your rent, what your rent pays for, what our plans are for the future, where to find support and other information.

If you are struggling to pay your rent, we are here to help and please get in touch on 01824 706000 or speak to your housing officer.

 

1 - Where does the budget come from for Denbighshire Housing?

We are funded from:

• Rents from tenants are paid into the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). This account makes sure it is only spent on managing, maintaining, and increasing our housing stock and land. These activities must support our HRA Business Plan.
• The Welsh Government to support and maintain our tenant’s homes. This includes our Optimised Retrofit Programme (ORP) for energy improvements.

We are not funded by Council Tax, and do not get subsidised by other Council services.

The following explains the breakdown of our Housing Revenue Budget 2024/2025:

Type of Expenditure	Cash budget £’000	Weekly average per property
Supervision and management – this includes the managing properties, allocations, rent collection and all other support services. For example, finance, personnel, and legal services.	£3,937	£22.95
Repairs and maintenance – this includes all day-to-day repairs and programmed work. For example gas maintenance.	£6,841	£39.88
Total management and maintenance costs	£10,778	£62.83
Debt charges – this includes principal and interest repayments on loans taken out to fund improvement and capital works in previous years, plus the Council’s buyout from the HRA subsidy system.	£7,745	45.15
Provision for bad debts – for example possible rent arrears	£158	£0.92
Total expenditure	£18,681	£108.90

 

Type of Income	Cash budget £’000	Weekly average per property
Rents (net of voids) – income from properties occupied during the year.	£19,030	£110.93
Service charges	£389	£2.27
Other income – mainly from garages let to tenants.	£351	£2.05
Total Income	£19,770	£115.24

 

Details	Cash budget £’000	Weekly average per property
Surplus / Deficit (-) for the year	£1,089	£6.34
LESS Capital expenditure from revenue account	£1,150	£6.70
Balances as at start of year	£1,349	£7.86
Balances as at the end of year	£1,288	£7.51

2 - How much is my rent increasing by and when?

Your rent will be increasing by 6.7% from 1 April 2024. The letter you had at the end of January 2024 explains the new amount you will be paying from this date.

The below are examples of the typical rents you might expect to pay, excluding service charges. There may be additional Service Charge costs added to the basic rent figure examples below, which were included in your letter.

• Family in 3-bedroom council house

With a 6.7% increase, the weekly rent for a family in a 3-bedroom council house in Denbighshire will be £123.97p, compared to £105.13p in 2023.

This is £4.55p per week less than the Living Rent Mode.

• Family in 2-bedroom council house

With a 6.7% increase, the weekly rent for a family in a 2-bedroom council house in Denbighshire will be £112.70p, compared to £95.57p in 2023.

This is £7.26p per week less than the Living Rent Mode.

• Single person in 1-bedroom council flat

With a 6.7% increase, the weekly rent for a single person in a 1-bedroom council flat in Denbighshire will be £91.77 compared to £86.01 in 2023.

This is £2.48p per week less than the Living Rent Model.

• Single person in 1-bedroom council bungalow

With a 6.7% increase, the weekly rent for a single person in a 1-bedroom council bungalow in Denbighshire will be £101.44p, compared to £95.07p in 2023.

This is £1.38p per week less than the Living Rent Model.

Other examples of weekly basic target rents include:

• Bedsit will be £81.57p compared to £76.45p in 2023.
• 2 bed flat/Maisonette will be £107.97p compared to £95.57p in 2023.
• 3 bed flat/maisonette will be £112.17p compared to £105.13p in 2023.
• 1 bed house/bungalow will be £101.44p compared to £95.07p in 2023.
• 4 bed house/bungalow will be £135.25p compared to £126.76p in 2023.
• 5 bed house/bungalow will be £146.51p compared to £137.31p in 2023.
• 6 bed house/bungalow will be £156.76p
• 7 bed house/bungalow will be £166.17p

 

3 - Why is my rent increasing?

Our decision to increase rents is always taken after careful consideration. Although we work hard to find new ways to deliver value for money, we also look at the affordability of our rents, how much our costs are increasing, and how much investment is needed in our tenant’s homes.

All income we receive is spent on our homes and services to continue:

• improving our tenant’s homes,
• building new council homes,
• investing in making our tenant’s homes more sustainable and cheaper to run in the long-term, and
• working towards the new Welsh Housing Quality Standards (WHQS) by 2030, we need to balance our accounts.

We have seen increased costs of maintaining and repairing homes and providing quality services. If we do not increase rent, then we will not be able to continue investing in our homes for our tenants and would not meet the WHQS 2023.

 

4 - How do you check that our rents are affordable when setting the rent increase?

We use a nationally recognised Living Rent affordability model, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), which says that rent is affordable when it takes up no more than 28% of a household’s net income. This model works for the 30% of tenants who pay their full rent.

This uses up to date information on earned incomes in Denbighshire. Even with a 6.7% increase in rent, the weekly rent for households with earned income, will be below the threshold of 28% as a proportion of the lowest incomes on average.

Over 70% of our households get some support with their rent, either through Housing Benefit or Universal Credit. Any increase in their rent will be met by their support benefit (assuming their circumstances do not change).

For more information about how we calculate the rent increase, spend our budget and the affordability of our rent etc. please visit Denbighshire County Council’s website to view our recent Housing Revenue Account Capital and Revenue Budgets for 2024/25 report (Item 6)

 

5 - Who made the decision about the rent increase?

To be transparent and inclusive, we make sure that we take any rent increase information to the Denbighshire Tenant and Resident Federation (DTARF) for consideration. This group brings together all the tenants and residents associations across the county.

Then we take a report to the Council’s Cabinet and Scrutiny panel. Once approved, we are then able to let tenants know. This takes about 2-3 months. 

 

6 - I pay a service charge; will this increase as well?

Most service charges have increased this year because of the rising cost of electricity and gas supplies, as well as increasing costs of labour and materials. For more information about what a service charge is, please visit the service charge webpage here.

 

7 - What does my rent pay for?

Your rent pays for, but not exclusive to:

• Housing staff including finance, legal, personnel, housing officers, support staff and so on.
• Our repairs and maintenance staff and work programme that includes day-to-day repairs, gas maintenance, home improvements and so on.
• Repayments of loans taken out to pay for improvement and capital works.

For all of this, and more, the weekly average cost, per home is £108.90.

 

8 - What is not included in my rent?

In addition to your rent you may also have to pay a Service Charge. This could include the costs we have to pay for grounds maintenance, communal cleaning, fire safety etc.  These charges are shown in your accompanying letter. For more information, click this link to visit our service charge webpage. 

 

9 - What do I do if I am struggling to pay my rent?

We are always here to help, listen and provide support to you. If you’re struggling to pay your rent, please get in touch with us on 01824 706000, or have a chat with your housing officer. We can put you in touch with our partners for further advice and support.

 

10 - What other advice and support is available?

Denbighshire Housing can help and advice with the following:

• Digital support and getting online.
• Budgeting support and managing your money.
• Applying for Council Tax reduction.
• Rent arrears management and managing your tenancy.
• Information on organisations that can provide low-cost IT equipment for use at home.
• Debt management.
• Applying for free school meals.
• Putting you in touch with Working Denbighshire.
• Plus, much more.

Also, in partnership with Citizens Advice Denbighshire, we can provide each tenant access to a free and independent welfare rights, energy and debt advice service called ‘Key To Advice’.

In some instances, with your consent, we may refer you to other providers for assistance.

For more information, on any of the above, please contact us on 01824 706000, or email housing@denbighshire.gov.uk

 

11 - What do I need to do next?

• If you pay be Direct Debit, then you do not need to do anything, as your new payment will be updated and taken from your account as normal, monthly for the next 12 months.
• If you pay by Standing Order, you will need to ask your bank to change this for you. If you us online banking, then you can change this. You just need to adjust the amount that you send us.
• If you receive benefits such as Universal Credit or housing benefit, please read ‘I claim Universal Credit or Housing Benefit. What do I need to do?’ section below.

 

12 - I claim Universal Credit or Housing Benefit. What do I need to do?

• If you claim Universal Credit
  It’s important that you update your account with the Department for Work and Pensions of your new rent payment from the 1 April 2024. You will need to do this within 14days of your rent changing. This date is on your rent increase letter that you got in January. They will then adjust your payments.
• If you claim Housing Benefit
  We will notify the Housing Benefit team at Denbighshire County Council what your new rent is. They will let you know what you will need to pay.

 

13 - Why is my rent more than my neighbours?

Differences can happen for several reasons, including your neighbour having different:

• Landlord. 
• Size property.
• Service being provided.
• Start date of their tenancy, and so on.

We are not able to discuss individual tenancies and rent payments to anyone else other than the contract holder.

 

14 - How can I get an up-to-date rent statement?

If you’d like an up-to-date rent statement, please get in contact with us by either:

• Contacting us online by completing our online form
• Calling us on 01824 706000

 

15 - What about garage rents? Are they increasing too?

Yes, from 1 April 2024 the following rents will apply to our garages:

• For our tenants it will be £8.82 per week.
• For non-Denbighshire Housing tenants, it will be £10.58 per week.

 

16 - What are you investing in for the future of your tenants, their homes, and communities?

Over the next 2-5 years, in addition to what we have mentioned earlier, we will be focusing our investments on:

• Improving the energy efficiency of our tenant’s homes, advising on how to reduce energy usage.
• Providing advice and support for the cost-of-living situation and direct tenants where to go for more support and advice.
• Working towards to WHQS 2023 Welsh Government standards. See page 5 for more information about these.
• Building new council houses.
• Supporting tenants and communities to become more resilient. 

Our latest Survey of Tenants and Residents (STAR) 2023 will also provide more information and inform what we will invest in for the future.

 

17 - What challenges are you facing as a landlord?

There are a number of challenges that we face as a landlord which include:

• Increases in costs linked to the building and construction sector.
• Improving homes to become more energy efficient.
• Improving the backlog in our improvement programme post-pandemic.
• Managing unpaid rents and rent arrears and supporting tenants through this.
• Repaying loans.
• Implementing the increased standards for the WHQS 2023.

 

18 - What is WHQS 2023?

WHQS 2023 focuses on Affordable Warmth. The Target Energy Pathway of EPC C 75, is our biggest and most costly new pressure (see below). To meet this target by 31/03/2030, we will need an additional £3.8M per year.

For more information about what the WHQS 2023 means for you, please click this link to the Welsh Government website.

 

19 - Why are there two logos on my paperwork?

In 2017, we introduced a new brand identity, called Denbighshire Housing, a part of Denbighshire County Council. This is because we are a successful service and compare favourably with others in social housing. We felt that it was important for our identity to reflect this and allow tenants and staff to be part of something they feel proud of.

You will always see the two logos together, so we thought we’d explain why.

• Denbighshire Housing logo:
  This logo is for the social (council) housing part of the council, and to clearly show the relationship with us, your landlord. It was created to help you know what services and improvements your rent pays for. This includes repairs and maintenance, environmental works, housing officers, support officers etc.
   
• Denbighshire County Council logo:
  These show the council services that you access as a resident of Denbighshire, which your council tax pays towards. EG bin collections, libraries, highways etc.

 

For more information: 

If you would like more information about rents or charges, please get in touch either by:

• Contacting us online by completing our online form
• Calling us on 01824 706000
• Following us Facebook - click this link to take you to our Facebook account.
• Following us on X (formerly Twitter) – click this link to take you to our X account.
• Download our latest rent review booklet by clicking this link.