News

6 February 2024

Annual rent review 2024

Clarion

Each year, we review our rents in line with national guidelines. How your rent is reviewed depends on your tenancy type and a range of factors, including your property type, property size, and the date your tenancy started.

These factors may influence how your rent changes each year and why your rent may differ from others in your neighbourhood.

Below, you will find information about the rent reviews for the year beginning 1 April 2024. These will be communicated to residents throughout February 2024. You can also find information about service charges and what to do if you are having problems paying.

If you need to check your tenancy type, please contact us.

Rent reviews 2024

Social rent tenancies

It is our responsibility to review your rent each year and to make sure it is charged at a level that is fair to you and allows us to continue to provide our services, including repairs. We are a registered charity, and all our income is re-invested into Clarion homes and our services.

Rent increases are based on the level of inflation in the previous September (in this case September 2023), plus a further 1%.

This year, the CPI (Consumer Price Index) level of inflation was 6.7% in September, so your rent will be increasing by 7.7%.

We understand that the cost of living continues to be tough, and this was not an easy decision for us to make. The need for an increase reflects the many of the goods, materials, and services that we need to provide to our residents increasing in price faster than inflation.

Our priority is to keep your rents as low as possible, while still being able to invest in Clarion homes, communities, and provide a good quality repairs service. Your rent continues to be lower than the average for an equivalent property in the private rented sector.

Secure rent tenancies

If you have a secure rent tenancy, you have a registered fair rent set by the Valuation Office Agency, which is re-registered every two years.

Your rent will be increased by 7.7%.

However, your gross rent (rent and service charges combined) will be capped at the registered fair rent if the increase exceeds the amount set by the Valuation Office Agency.

Affordable rent tenancies

If you have an existing affordable rent tenancy, your rent will increase by 7.7% from April 2024.

Shared ownership rents

If you are a shared owner, the amount of rent you will be charged is based on the share of the property Clarion owns.

Your lease provides for the rent to be increased based on the annual increase in a measure of inflation known as the Retail Price Index, plus an additional uplift.

Garage / parking spaces / sheds

The charges for these will increase by 8.9% from April 2024.

Having problems paying your rent?

If you are struggling to pay, please phone us on 0300 500 8000.

It is important to talk to us as soon as possible if you are having any difficulty. Our team of expert benefits advisors can guide you through your options and make sure you are getting the money you are entitled to, including advice on how to apply.

Find out more about what to do if you are having problems paying.

Our Guideline team also offers free, practical, and confidential financial guidance to help you keep on top of your rent and household bills. They can also put you in touch with our other services, including helping you get online, or support finding a job, developing skills or training.

Get in touch with Guideline

Service charges

For more information on services charges, read our FAQs below.

Woman sitting in a kitchen using her laptop

How are my service charges calculated?

If you have a Social Rent tenancy, the breakdown of your service charges outlines the charge for services you receive that are not covered by your rent. We estimate how much we think it is likely to cost based on how much your services cost in previous years, and consideration is given to what services may need to be provided in the coming year. If you have any queries on your estimated service charges, please contact us on 0300 500 8000 to discuss further.

If you have an Affordable Rent tenancy, you will have communal service charges included within your rent. You will not see a breakdown of the services provided or the charges. A breakdown may be provided for charges which relate to personal costs, such as heating and hot water consumed in your own home, or personal electricity and water consumption, depending on the arrangements for your building. These charges are not included within your rent.

If you are a shared owner or a homeowner, in line with your lease or transfer document we will provide you with your estimated services charges before the beginning of the financial year (1 April).

We have to estimate how much we think it is likely to cost based on how much your services cost in previous years, and consideration is given to what services may need to be provided in the coming year. If you have any queries on your estimated service charges, please contact us on 0300 500 8000 to discuss further.

Within six months of the end of the financial year (31 March), we will send you a certificate of actual expenditure, which will tell you if there is any difference between what we estimated and what the actual cost has been. The difference will then be applied to your account on 30 September.

Some of our tenancies have fixed service charges. We will use our best endeavours to estimate the cost of services based on the services provided in the previous year. You will then be charged on the basis of this estimate.

If your tenancy agreement states you have variable services charges, we will provide you with estimated service charges, followed by a certificate of what was actually spent on services within six months of the end of the financial year, by 30 September. If you have paid too much, or not enough, the difference will be carried over into the following year’s charges and applied to your account.

If you get Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, some service charges will be covered by these payments – these as known as eligible service charge. Other charges will be classified as ineligible and not covered. Eligible charges are typically those related to communal services, such as communal electricity, refuse removal etc. Charges for personal services, for example personal heating and hot water, contents insurance etc. are ineligible and therefore not covered by Universal Credit or Housing Benefit. If you would like more information about eligible and ineligible service charges, please call us on 0300 500 8000.

If you are unhappy with the service provided, you can get in contact with us or call 0300 500 8000. We will be able to take details of why the service provided has not met your expectations and raise this with the relevant business teams to get in contact with you to discuss further. If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of your enquiry, please follow our complaints process to escalate this further.

If you have a query about the amount you are being charged for services provided, you can also get in touch online or contact us on the number above. We will then be able to take details on the charge you are querying and ask our service charge team to look into the charge and offer an explanation as to why the charge has occurred and what the charge covers.

If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of your enquiry, please follow our complaints process to escalate this further.

If you remain dissatisfied with a charge, you have the right to request that a review is carried out by the First-Tier tribunal, a government body, who have the authority to determine whether a charge is payable. Further information on tribunals can be found in the Summary of tenant’s rights and obligations document.

The administration fee of 15% is charged on the total cost of services to communal service charges and it covers our costs of obtaining and managing the service and the cost of preparing and reconciling the service charge account. A management fee is charged to some homeowners to cover our costs of managing the relationship with you as set out in your lease or freehold transfer and covers our costs of managing the lease obligations, collecting rent and service charges, and carrying out consultations with leaseholders. Essentially, the admin fee is charged on communal services provided, whilst the management fee covers our cost of managing the relationship with you as the homeowner.

If you are a variable service charge customer and you have overpaid service charges, based on estimates provided, the overpayment will be credited to your account. If you would like the credit to be refunded or used to lower ongoing payments, you can follow the options below and our teams will be able to arrange this for you.

If you would like a refund, please contact the Home Ownership Income Team on 0300 5008000, option 3, and then option 3 again, or send us an email. We may ask you to provide proof of your bank account but will provide further information on what this involves when you contact us. (NB: you must not send a copy of your bank card).
If you pay by direct debit, this should automatically adjust to use up the credit over the remainder of the year, but please do check and let us know if this doesn’t happen by contacting us on the details stated in point 1.
If you pay by any other means, then you can use the credit to reduce your ongoing payments. If you are unsure what to pay, please contact us on the details stated in point 1 and we can advise.

If you have any questions or queries regarding the above information, please get in touch. Alternatively, you can get in touch on 0300 500 8000.

Description of Service Charges

Our Description of Service Charges, below, should be able to assist you in understanding the items on your service charge breakdown, but please get in touch if you would like to query the services, or charges stated.

This charge is for an administration fee of 15% which is charged on the total cost of services to communal service charges. It covers our costs for obtaining and managing the service and the cost of preparing and reconciling the service charge account. For example, the administration charge for repairs will help meet the costs of staff involved in ordering the repair, checking the repairs for quality and paying contractor invoices.

This charge is for Building Insurance - under the terms of your lease (where it applies), we have an obligation to insure the building on behalf of the leaseholders against risks like fire and flood. Leaseholders and shared owners are recharged for the cost of this insurance. The building Insurance policy details are:

Building Insurance Provider – Igloo/Protector

Policy Number – Igloo / ASG002/2023 – 932838

Claims telephone number: 01245 34123

This charge is for your share of costs for day to day repairs to, or within, communal areas of your block or on your estate, for example, repairs to a main entrance door. You may not see an estimated service charge for these repairs included but you will be recharged for any eligible works when we send you your certificate of actual expenditure for the previous financial year. Please be sure to consider this when budgeting as this could create a deficit on your account.

This charge is for the cost of service and maintenance of fire protection measures such as emergency lighting, alarms, sprinklers and automatic opening vent systems. Clarion has a statutory duty to ensure the safety of its blocks. We are committed to following a risk based approach such that we will complete inspections and servicing that satisfies both regulation and wider building safety guidance. By doing this we are able to demonstrate effective risk control of our buildings.

This charge is for the provision of an intensive housing management service, delivered to residents, in our LiveSmart and Supported Housing schemes. This includes the management of scheme facilities, providing additional onsite guidance, and arranging for activities such as repairs to be carried out. The charge is applied to elements of service which are required in a scheme setting, but which would not be required in someone’s family home.

We charge management fees to some of our homeowners, to cover our costs of managing the relationship with you as set out in your lease or freehold transfer. We set the charge dependent on the property type and the services we provide. The management fee covers our costs for: managing the lease obligations; collecting rent and service charges; consulting leaseholders on repair work and long-term contracts; investigating and where necessary taking action on breaches of the lease; and undertaking inspections to ensure compliance with statutory requirements.

This charge is for Managing Agent services; in some cases, the freehold is not owned by Clarion and we work with a managing agent who works on behalf of the freeholder to provide a range of services for the estate. Clarion is charged by the managing agent for the cost of these services, which are then recharged through service charge in line with your lease or tenancy agreement. If you would like more information about the services charged for, please do not hesitate to get in touch and we will be able to provide a copy of the managing agent’s accounts to you.

In many leases, there is a provision for Clarion to collect payments in advance to create a ‘Sinking Fund’ (this is sometimes referred to as a Reserve Fund). The purpose of a Sinking Fund is to build up a pot of money to contribute to the cost of any work that may be needed, but that does not happen regularly. This would primarily be works deemed as major work, such as structural work or a lift replacement, or planned maintenance such as redecorations to a block.

Sinking Funds help to make the cost of major work more manageable. Leases may state how much is to be contributed each year, but usually they do not, and therefore Clarion decides how much the contributions should be. The level of contributions is assessed with reference to the age and condition of the building and likely future cost estimates, with an allowance for VAT and fees included.

Sinking Funds will earn interest and will be held in a special account. They are collected on behalf of the property, and any contributions to the Sinking Fund are not repayable when a flat is sold. Following the completion of works, the total costs will be calculated, and you will be charged for your individual proportion of the works, based on the terms of your lease. The fund is only accessed at the point works are charged to you – you will be informed of when your Sinking Fund will be used and kept advised of how much is in the fund on an annual basis.

National Fraud Initiative

We are required by law to protect the public funds we administer. We may share information provided to us with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, or when undertaking a public function, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

We regularly participate in the National Fraud Initiative. This is a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body to see how far they match. This is usually personal information.

Find out more in our privacy policy.

Annual rent review 2024

Clarion

Rent reviews 2024

Social rent tenancies

Secure rent tenancies

Affordable rent tenancies

Shared ownership rents

Having problems paying your rent?

Service charges

We're here to help

How are my service charges calculated?

Social rent tenancy

Affordable rent tenancy

Homeowners (Shared owners/Leaseholders/Freeholders)

Fixed and ineligible Universal Credit or Housing Benefit charges

Eligible and ineligible Universal Credit or Housing Benefit charges

How are my service charges apportioned between my neighbours and me?

How is my Ground Rent calculated?

What can I do if I have a question about the charges stated in my breakdown?

How can I request a written summary of costs for my service charges?

Why do I pay an admin fee and a management fee?

What can I do if I have made an overpayment in service charges?

Description of Service Charges

Abandoned vehicles

Administration fee

Bin hire

Building insurance

Caretaking – Block or estate

Clearance of rubbish

Communal cleaning

Communal electricity

Communal gas

Communal lighting

Communal window cleaning

Concierge

Day-to-day repairs

Door entry service contract

Fire protection

Furniture charge

Grounds maintenance contract

Grounds maintenance non contract

Intensive Housing Management

Laundry service

Lifts

Lightning protection

Major works (applicable to homeowners only)

Management fee (applicable to homeowners only)

Managing Agent Services

Personal electricity

Personal heating and hot water

Pest control

Portable Appliance Testing

Provision of mechanical and electrical

Provision of other equipment

Roof top safety

Sewer/surface pump servicing contract

Sinking funds

Site security

Television aerial servicing contract

Tree works / surgery

Water hygiene management

Water personal usage

Water pump maintenance

National Fraud Initiative