We’re responsible for managing the property, maintaining it to a high standard and making sure tenants understand their rights and responsibilities.
Every tenant has a named housing officer who is their main point of contact for most housing related matters:
- Tenancy agreements and changes
- Anti-social behaviour or tenancy concerns
- Liaising with support teams and families
Your housing officer can help with
- Signing new tenancy agreements
- Tenancy reviews and property visits
- Ending a tenancy or moving home
- Rent and service charge queries
- Advice on Housing Benefit and Universal Credit
- Reporting or managing anti-social behaviour and responding to safeguarding concerns
If your unsure who your housing officer is, contact us and we’ll put you in touch.
Rent
Rent covers the cost of providing and maintaining the home, including repairs, planned maintenance and the housing management service.
Rent must be paid weekly in advance on a Monday, unless we’ve agreed another payment schedule in writing.
Most tenants pay through Housing Benefit or Universal Credit though some pay through Direct Debit.
If a tenant receives support managing their finances, you may need to help ensure payments are made on time and any benefit claims remain active.
If benefits are delayed, stopped or reduced, the tenant must still pay rent directly to us. Please let us know immediately if you become aware of any rent or benefit issues.
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Service Charges
Service charges cover the cost of maintaining shared or communal areas and services.
These may include
- Cleaning and lighting of shared spaces
- Gardening and grounds maintenance
- Fire safety checks and equipment servicing
- White goods or furniture replacement
- Testing of safety systems
Tenants receive a detailed rent and service charge schedule showing what is included. Charges may vary from year to year following consultation and written notice.
Housing Benefit and Universal Credit
We can help with these applications and provide ongoing support to make sure tenants receive the right entitlement.
Housing officers can:
- Help tenants complete and submit benefit claims
- Provide guidance and evidence required by local authorities
- Support tenants to report changes in circumstances
- Liaise with benefit offices on behalf of tenants if needed
- Help monitor payments and resolve any shortfalls or delays
Support workers and carers can also help by keeping us informed about any benefit issues and assisting tenants to maintain accurate claims.
If a tenant falls into arrears, we’ll work sensitively with them and their support team to agree a plan and prevent debt from building up.
Contents insurance
We as landlord insure the building, structure and fixtures of all our properties.
Tenants are responsible for arranging their own contents insurance to protect their personal belongings, furniture, and decorations.