Rent and service charges explained

As you know, we’ve taken the difficult decision to increase rent and service charges for 2024-25, with changes coming into effect from April 2024.

We know that for many customers, this puts additional pressure on finances, and we want to make sure you understand the support we can offer to help you deal with these increases.

Support

If you need to get in contact with us after reading this information, please fill out the short form on the money matters page of our website or call us on 01202 312 715.

If you need to contact us about anything else, just drop us a line as you usually would.

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Rent

There's no question we've all felt the pinch and had to find ways to save money. As well as the impact on individuals, businesses like Stonewater have had to spend money and obtain services with greater caution.

We've worked hard to get the best deals from our contracting partners, but despite this the costs of providing our services, including repairs, grounds maintenance, and cleaning, have increased.

The past year has brought some hope though, and we've been successful in securing new energy contracts which have led to a 27.5% and 30.6% reduction in electricity and gas prices respectively. These contracts will not take effect until June 2024, but the savings will be reflected in our service charge projections sooner.

Customers will see savings from April as we understand the impact the energy prices have had on households.

The Regulator of Social Housing sets the maximum increase we can make to our rents. This year, based on the relevant rate of inflation, this increases by 7.7% for social rented customers and 9.4% for shared owners. Customers will be able to see their increase in their personal rent review letter, which will reach them no later than the end of February 2024.

Service charges

While many rising costs are beyond our control, we’re committed to making sure our customers remain secure, warm and comfortable in their homes. But, given inflation rates and the continuing economic situation, we’re still seeing some increases in the cost of the services we provide to them.

We’re legally not allowed to make any profit from service charges, and only recover the costs of the services that we’ve provided to customers.

We're really pleased to have secured new energy contracts from June 2024, showing our continued efforts to look for ways to save you money. This is an area which caused a lot of concerns during 23/24 as the cost of commercial energy rose above that of domestic supplies. Whilst many of our Retirement Living and Supported Housing customers saw a reduction in charges in June 2023, we are hopeful that with up-to-date usage and the new contract rates they will still see a further reduction from April. Our general needs customers, who did not receive any reductions mid-year, will see an instant saving on many of their communal supplies.

We’re also looking to limit the impact of communal energy costs where possible. For example, looking at the energy consumption of all our buildings with communal areas, to see if there’s anything we can do to improve the energy efficiency. We’re working on a project to review and consult with all schemes which are in receipt of personal energy through their service charge to provide the option to move onto individual supply. This will continue through 2024 with a view to complete ahead of April 2025.

We know that estate services such as grounds maintenance and communal cleaning have also been a concern of our customers during 2023, both in terms of the rising costs and the delivery of new contracts. We’ve worked to ensure that the projections made in these areas reflect up-to-date costs and we’re also working to make sure that our contractors and customers are clear on what will be delivered under these services so that you know what to expect for your money.

Whilst in some areas we will see costs stabilize and even reduce, due to changes in the market and inflation, many customers will see an increase in some of their service charges. Service charges are set using known costs, contracts, the previous year’s actual costs and inflationary uplift (7.7%).

If you have any concerns about the services you receive, then you can tell us about it using the form on this page of our website.