Rent change information
Your rent will be increasing from April 2024. You should have received, or will shortly receive, a letter through the post with more information.
Why is there a rent increase?
Rent increases for shared owners are set out in your lease and for most of Paradigm’s shared owners this is set at the RPI (a measure of inflation) or the rate of RPI plus 0.5%.
How does Paradigm spend the money it gets from rent?
Just as you have a mortgage on the share of the home you own, we also have a mortgage on the rest. Your rent goes towards paying this, as well as the other costs we have. As a charity, all the money we make goes back into providing services for customers, maintaining our homes and building new homes for people who need them most.
I claim Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, is there anything I need to do?
If you claim Universal Credit
You must report this change to the DWP by completing the ‘confirming your housing costs’ to do notification on your Universal Credit journal.
Please do this on or after 1 April 2024. Do not report this change beforehand as your claim may not be updated.
If you claim Housing Benefit
You must report this change to your local council by providing a copy of your rent increase letter to the Housing Benefit department.
Will the cost of my service charge change too?
Most of our homeowners will receive their annual service charge statement in May and these may also show an increase which will be applied from July. Former One Housing and Guinness Partnership customers will receive their service charge and rent increase at the same time, in late February with charges to be applied from April. We charge for specific services additional to rent which are passed on at cost – we only charge you what we pay for them. We have held these down as much as possible but some costs have gone up due to recent high inflation.
What if I have difficulty paying my rent?
We know this is a difficult time for many people and you may be having financial problems. If you’re struggling to pay your rent, contact us immediately on 0300 303 1010.
It’s important to let us know as soon as possible to stop debts building up that will be difficult to repay.
We have a dedicated team of staff who can help. We can help with things like:
- Setting up payment plans, where appropriate
- Signposting you to support services
- Making sure you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to.
You can find more information on the Support Hub on this website.
How do I calculate my monthly rent?
Take your weekly rent, divide it by 7, multiply by 365.25 and then divide by 12.