Changes to rents from April 2020

27/01/2020

This year we have worked out your rent differently. Since 2015, the Government policy was to reduce rent by 1% each year. Following a Government consultation, new guidelines were published in November last year, that stated that rents would rise by the rate of inflation (Consumer Price Index) currently 1.7% plus 1% for the next five years. Your rent will change from April 2020.

We want to continue delivering a good quality services to you. This includes maintaining and improving your home and investing in new fire safety measures for many of our buildings. We want to invest in our homes and neighbourhoods and plan for future generations.

We will write to you in February to let you know your new rent and service charges. If you have any questions - have a look here or email enquiries@originhousing.org.uk 

How do we spend your rent money?

We’ve carried out in-depth fire risk assessments on all our residential blocks, and invested over £3.4 million in strengthening fire safety measures. 

We invested over £12 million repairing and refurbishing our existing homes including: over £400,000 on new kitchens, £450,000 on new bathrooms, nearly £800,000 on windows, approximately £1,000,000 on external improvements to 713 homes, and over £840,000 on 369 new energy efficient boilers to reduce utility bills and cut our carbon footprint.

We also help people with their money.

Our Financial Support Team helped our residents access a total of £434,585.84 in unclaimed benefits to help sustain tenancies and maximise their household income. They also secured £42,000 for residents in back-dated Housing Benefit, Universal Credit and £21,000 in Discretionary Housing Payment awards. This meant we could secure £39,700 in advance rent payments to ensure our residents could maintain their rent accounts, reduce arrears and maintain their
tenancies