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You need to keep you rent account up to date. The rent is due fortnightly. There is a blue line on your rent card which indicates when you should pay your rent.
Up until March 2002, social landlords in different areas used slightly different ways of setting rents (such as points systems). This meant that it was not always possible to compare the rents of different landlords, including those in neighbouring areas.
The Government wanted the rents charged by social landlords (which includes Gedling Borough Council) to be fair and affordable. The Government believes that rents should:
Following consultation with councils and housing associations, the Government produced a formula for setting rents, which takes into account the value of the property, the number of bedrooms in the property and local earnings. This rent is known as the formula or target rent. Gedling Borough Council owns approximately 3,550 properties and a formula rent must be calculated for each of its properties.
The rents currently charged by the Council are different to the formula rents for each of its properties, the Government have therefore allowed social landlords such as Gedling to move their actual rents gradually towards the formula rent over a ten-year period starting from April 2002 and ending in March 2012. Because the changes are made over a ten-year period, any rent change should be gradual. To make sure tenants do not face large increases, the Government has said that in any one year, a tenant’s weekly rent cannot go up by more than the rate of inflation plus 0.5% plus £2. The higher the property value, the more bedrooms a property have and the higher the local earnings, the higher the rent will be. The opposite is also true.
Gedling Borough Council sets the rents for all its properties annually in February each year. The Council consults with its tenants, through the TCP with regard to this.
If you would like further information regarding the government's rent restructuring policy please contact HousingServices@gedling.gov.uk.
Other charges you may have to pay include:
There are several ways to pay your rent:
Payments can be made at any Post Office free of charge, using a plastic payment card. Simply give your card to the cashier along with your money or cheques (Cheques made payable to Post Office Counters Ltd). You will be given a receipt which is proof of your payment, so please keep it. To arrange a post office payment card please contact a Resource Officer on 0115 901 3673. or email us.
There offices are open Monday to – Thursday 9.00an – 4.45pm and Friday 9.00am – 4.15pm.
If the cash office is closed, payments can be placed in the night safe in a sealed envelope. This should contain details of your name address and which account the money should be paid to.
Your payments can be made monthly in advance from your bank account via a standing order. To arrange a standing order please contact one of our Resource Officers on 0115 901 3673 and a mandate will be sent to you. Once completed please post this onto your bank.
Payments can be made by cheque or postal order via the post, please enclose either your post office payment card or your rent card. Remember to write your name, address and account number on the reverse of the cheque or postal order.
A rent collector can call and collect the rent once a fortnight on a set day of the week. If you wish a collector to call please contact us on 0115 901 3862.
You can also make payments over the phone using your debit card. To do this please call our offices on 0115 901 3949.
Please note we cannot accept payments by Credit Cards.
Payments can be made via the Internet. Simply log onto www.billpayment.co.uk and follow the on-screen instructions.
We will write to inform you of any changes to your rent, detailing the revised rent figure and the reasons for the change. We will give you four weeks notice of any changes in the amount of rent due. If you are claiming Housing Benefit, our Benefit Section should inform you of your benefit entitlement and any changes in the benefit payment.
If you are on a low or fixed income you may be entitled to help towards your rent payments.
If you think you may qualify and want to receive a claim form, simply call one of these number 0115 901 3970/71/72/73 or write to:
Gedling Borough Council
Housing Benefit Department
Civic centre
Arnot Hill Park
Arnold
Nottingham
NG5 6LU
For information regarding Housing Benefits,
If you are in doubt, apply- it won’t cost you anything, but could save you money.
It is a condition of your Tenancy Agreement that your rent and any other tenancy charges must be paid as they become due.
Rent Control Officers review the rent accounts every week, and will take action against anyone who persistently fails to pay their rent or contact us. If your rent account falls into arrears you will receive a letter and/or a visit from a Rent Control Officer.
We understand that everyone can experience financial difficulties on occasion, and if you are struggling to pay your rent, it is very important to contact the Rent Team immediately on 0115 9013771/9013682 or email housingservices@gedling.gov.uk.. The sooner we are aware that you have problems the easier it is for us to help.
Web link to payment details available http://www.gedling.gov.uk/index/fin-home/fin-how-to-pay.htm
You can also request a form by emailing housingbenefits@gedling.gov.uk or telephoning 0115 9013970 or online http://gedling-nt5/inter/application_form
If you remain in arrears we will consider serving you with a Notice of Seeking Possession, which is the first step we can take towards recovering possession of your home, however you may still make an arrangement, which, if kept, will stop further action.
If you receive a Notice of Seeking Possession or Notice to Quit, don't ignore it - Contact the Rent Control Team – please see contact details above.
If there is no improvement in your arrears after a Notice has been served, we will take your case to Court. You will have to pay court costs of at least £219.50 and we will ask the court for a Possession Order, but even at this stage we are keen to help you overcome your difficulties and will offer advice to help you keep your home.
If you do not pay according to an Order of the Court, you may lose your home.
Help and advice is on offer throughout this process, we are keen to help you to make arrangements to clear your arrears, however if arrears continue to increase after a Court Hearing, we will apply to the Court for an Eviction Warrant and this will incur additional costs of at least £90.00.
You may also wish to seek advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau, Nottinghamshire Welfare Rights Service or a solicitor.
If you terminated your tenancy agreement, you will known as a former tenant. We require that former tenants pay any money owning to us in full. If there are arrears on a former tenant account the Rent Control Officers review the rent accounts every week, and will take action against anyone who fails to repay the debt or contact us. If a former tenancy account is left in arrears you will receive a letter and/or a visit from a Rent Control Officer.
We understand that everyone can experience financial difficulties on occasion, and if you are struggling to pay the debt, it is very important to contact the Rent Team immediately on 0115 9013771/9013682 or email housingservices@gedling.gov.uk.. The sooner we are aware that you have problems the easier it is for us to help.
Further details on methods to pay Former Tenant Arrears can be obtained from the web link http://www.gedling.gov.uk/index/fin-home/fin-how-to-pay.htm
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