Introduction

Phoenix Community Housing (Phoenix) recognises that it needs to make appropriate charges to cover all of its costs in providing services to ensure that the commitments outlined in its Business Plan are achieved, and to guarantee that Phoenix is financially stable in the long term.

Phoenix is also committed to ensuring that its rents and other charges are affordable to people on modest incomes and that dependence on housing benefit is minimised.

As part of its commitment to continuous improvement and offering value for money, Phoenix will ensure that it monitors the charges it makes for providing services and will compare its costs with other similar housing providers in the area. Phoenix's Board will receive reports on such comparisons and monitoring and will take any action that is appropriate.

This Policy meets the requirements of the Housing Corporation’s Regulatory Code which requires housing associations to set rents in accordance with the rent restructuring formula.

The Government introduced a policy from April 2002 for rents for Council and housing association properties. By 2012, the rent should only be affected by the size and location of properties. It should not make any difference whether a property is owned by the Council or a housing association.

The Government’s rent policy is that:

Rents for social housing (Councils and housing associations) should remain affordable and well below rents set by private landlords.

Rents for social housing should be fairer and less confusing for tenants.

There should be a closer link between the rents tenants pay and the quality, size and location of their homes.

There should be no significant difference between the rent set by councils and housing associations.

The Government has developed a formula for working out rent levels called a target rent. Councils and housing associations must aim for the target rent. This rent takes into account :

• The value of the property.
• The number of bedrooms.
• Average local earnings.

Rents for all properties will move to the target rent by 2012 regardless of who the landlord is.

The Government has set limits on the maximum increase in Council or housing association rents. As rents move to the target rent, the maximum increase allowed is inflation plus ½ % plus up to £2 to reach the target rent.

Once the Government’s target rents are reached, Government policy states that all rents should increase by no more than inflation plus 0.5% each year. Some Phoenix tenants will also pay service charges as well as rent. These will be for a range of services including caretaking, grounds maintenance, and communal lighting.

Service charges do not form part of rent restructuring. Service charges should be sufficient to cover the costs of the services provided. RSLs are expected to properly distinguish between rents and service charges before applying the rent restructuring framework. To reflect this, Phoenix’s policy is presented as two separate policy statements:-

1.Statement of Policy – Rents

2. Statement of Policy – Service Charges

1. Statement of Policy – Rents

Phoenix's Policy is to provide quality social rented housing that is affordable to a range of income groups, which includes people on modest incomes. It will ensure that dependence on housing benefit is minimised.

Although Phoenix is a not-for-profit organisation, financial and organisational efficiency is extremely important both to Phoenix and its regulator. It will therefore ensure that through its Rent Setting and Service Charges (and associated policies) that it will take all appropriate steps to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Phoenix is committed to providing effective quality services and to honouring the commitments contained in the Council’s offer to tenants. It will raise the necessary income to achieve these aims whilst ensuring at all times that it remains cost effective in its provision of services. Phoenix is committed to a policy of continuous service improvement under a Best Value regime that will provide regular reviews through a process of challenge, comparisons with the best, consultation and open competition.

Phoenix will increase rents for those tenants transferring from Lewisham Council, in accordance with the needs of its Business Plan and having proper regard to Housing Corporation Guidance and the Government's Target Rents Policy. Rent levels for new tenants of Phoenix - i.e. those not transferring from Lewisham Council - will be set at Target Rent levels

Parallel guarantees will be given in relation to the rents of garages.

Phoenix will continue to collect a number of charges along with the weekly rent for the convenience of tenants this includes

·         Water charges- almost all tenants

·         Heating charges – for tenants with communal heating systems

·         Tenants insurance – an optional scheme available to tenants

Phoenix will continue to collect water and heating charges in the same way as previously done by Lewisham council. Phoenix will continue to offer access to contents insurance to any interested residents and collect the premiums along with the weekly rent.

Increases in water charges will be notified at the same time as the rent increase and take effect from April. Heating charges will be reviewed once a year and four weeks’ notice will be given of changes. Tenants would also receive four weeks’ notice of any changes in the contents insurance premium.

Tenants will normally be expected to make their own arrangements for the payment of Council Tax, and other public utilities (apart from water rates).

2. Statement of Policy – Service Charges

Phoenix will levy charges for a small range of existing services. These charges will be for services provided at the time of transfer. Examples of such charges are as follows:

• caretaking
• grounds maintenance
• communal heating and/or water costs– where heating or water are supplied to the tenant’s home from a central meter and the utility provider does not bill the tenant directly
• the collection of charges for concessionary TV licences.

Phoenix may introduce new services in future which may be as a result of requests from or after consultation with tenants; for which service charges may be payable. Phoenix will give at least 28 day’s notice of any proposal to introduce a new service charge and the estimated charge to the tenant .

Heating charges and any other service charges will be fixed at a level to cover the costs of service provision. These costs will include the administration of such services and the costs of maintaining and replacement of equipment.

Phoenix's Board will agree details of all service charges and how they are calculated on at least an annual basis. Changes to charges will be notified to each tenant by giving at least four week's notice.

LINKLINE CHARGES

Residents that receive an emergency alarm service from Linkline and are in receipt of eligible benefit(s) will not have to pay towards this service. For any tenant who does not qualify for this service to be provided without cost to them, we will set out the weekly charge to be collected along with their rent details and collect this amount with their rent payment.

Implementation

Rents will not be increased for individual tenants following completion of improvements. However, Phoenix still has to follow Government guidelines relating to target rents, which state that any increase in the value of a property because of improvements has to be taken into account. This means that if the value of the property increases significantly because of improvement work carried out, then the Government’s target rent for the property would be increased to reflect this.

Rents will normally be increased on an annual basis taking effect from the beginning of each financial year and will be fixed by the Board. Tenants will be notified in writing of such increases within the statutory notice periods or the period set out in the tenancy agreement.

Rents will be collected and calculated over 52 weeks. Where there are 53 Mondays in the financial year the rent will be collected over 53 weeks.

Rent statements will be sent to all tenants on a quarterly basis.

The rent is payable on the Monday of each week it is due and should be paid within the week it is due.

Phoenix will ensure that, subject to the agreement of individual tenants, Housing Benefit be credited by Lewisham Council direct to the tenant's rent account.

Equality and Diversity Implications

There are no specific equality and diversity implications for this policy, although Phoenix will monitor the effectiveness and implications of this policy to ensure that statutory requirements are met and that all tenants are treated equitably and fairly.

Responsibility

Phoenix's Housing Director is responsible for the effective implementation of this policy.

Phoenix's Housing Director is also responsible for ensuring that all appropriate staff are aware of and are trained in Phoenix's Policy and associated procedures.

It is the responsibility of the Board of Phoenix to take the appropriate decisions in relation to rent setting in accordance with recommendations from the Housing Director and the Chief Executive of Phoenix.

The Board of Phoenix will receive reports which will consider whether procedures are being correctly followed by employees.

Consultation

Phoenix will consult with all of its tenants on rent levels. This consultation will take place in accordance with Phoenix's Tenant Participation and Consultation policy.

Phoenix will benchmark against rent levels charged by other comparative RSL's in the area and provide this information to its tenants, Phoenix's Board and the Housing Corporation.

Monitoring and Review

Phoenix takes seriously its commitment to ensure that rent levels are kept affordable for all income groups.

Phoenix's Board or a designated Sub-Committee will monitor rents being charged by comparative RSL's on an annual basis to ensure that Phoenix's rents remain affordable and competitive.

This Policy will be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure that it continues to take account of Business Plan considerations, legislative changes and Housing Corporation guidance.

Rent Collection & Payment Policy

Rent Arrears Recovery Policy

Tenant Participation & Consultation Policy