Housing charges are your rent plus any other payments you make for heating, insurance, garage rental and so on.
How we calculate monthly charges
There are 52 weeks in the 2025 to 2026 financial year. It runs from 7 April 2025 to 5 April 2026. This means that we calculate monthly payments by multiplying total weekly charges by 52 and dividing by 12.
The table shows how we calculate Direct Debit payments:
| Month | Charge |
|---|---|
| April 2025 | Weekly housing charges x 4.37 |
| May 2025 to March 2026 | Weekly housing charges x 4.33 |
Calculation example
If your weekly housing charges were £143.56 then your monthly payments would be:
£627.36 for April only
£621.61 for each month from May to March
This calculation usually results in a lot of decimal places, so we round it up or down to the nearest whole amount.
To keep your annual charge exact, we make an adjustment in the first month. This is to make sure you’re not overcharged or go into arrears.
Housing charges records and statements
You should keep your own records of what you pay so you know that your account is up to date.
We send you a housing statement every 3 months and we’ll write to you if your account falls into arrears.
Rent setting policy
Government policy directs how rents should be set by local authorities and registered social landlords.
The stated objectives of this policy are:
- rents should remain affordable in the long term
- rents should be fairer and less confusing for tenants
- there should be a closer link between rents and the qualities that tenants value in properties
- unjustifiable differences between the rents set by local authorities and by registered social landlords should be removed over ten years
How rents are calculated
The government requires all local authorities to calculate the rent for each of their properties according to a set formula.
This formula considers the:
- market value of the property in January 1999 compared to the national average value for other local authority properties
- number of bedrooms in the property
- average earnings of manual workers in the county or borough compared to national average earnings