Each year, we review our rents in line with national guidelines. We write to every resident with full details of their rent review, these are sent during February. Below you will information about your rent review, based on tenancy type.
If you’re a social housing resident
We follow government rules when calculating any changes to your rent each year.
These rules allow for changes to your rent based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
This is a measure of inflation for changes in prices of everyday goods and services typically bought by UK households.
We work out your new rent by taking the previous September’s CPI rate, which was 3.8% in 2025, and adding 1% to it.
This means we’ll be increasing your rent by 4.8% from April 2026.
Our social rents remain at or below the government rent cap for social housing and we ensure that our rent remains significantly cheaper than market rent levels.
If you’re a shared owner
Your rents are linked to another measure of inflation – the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus an uplift of typically between 0.5% and 2%.
The terms of your rent increase are explained in your lease.
If you pay service charges
We will provide an estimate in line with inflation and our spending on services.
What to do if you’re having difficulty paying your rent
Please let us know as soon as possible. Find out more about how we can help.
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, or benefit from, 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 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.
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, buildings insurance and sinking fund etc. are ineligible and therefore not covered by Universal Credit or Housing Benefit.
Properties are grouped into blocks and/or estates for dividing service charges. Service charges are apportioned depending on what is specified in the lease or other legal document relevant to your home and based on the services being provided.
If you are a homeowner, your lease may require you to pay Ground Rent to the freeholder of your property. Your lease will also say if the amount of Ground Rent payable will increase over time. If you need to pay Ground Rent, you will receive a notice of demand that will tell you how much you need to pay. This is usually sent to you each year before 1 April.
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.
If you would like a full breakdown of your service charges, please refer to point 9 and 10 in the Summary of tenant’s rights and obligations document, which will outline the steps you need to take. Upon receipt of your written request, we will be able to provide you with the requested information.
The administration fee of 15% is charged on the total cost of services to communal service charges and capped at a maximum of £205 per annum per property. This 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.
Your account will be credited or debited with the difference/variance between what we estimated your service charges to be and what the actual expenditure was. This is known as a "True-Up" and will appear on your customer portal/statement.
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 500 8000, option 3, and then option 3 again, or email us. 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.
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.
The administration fee of 15% is charged on the total cost of services to communal service charges and capped at a maximum of £205 per annum per property.
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 – Artex
Axcell (Guernsey) PCC Limited
Policy Number – Artex Axcell (Guernsey) PCC Limited – Cell ASG2/ 2024
Claims telephone number: 01245 341212 / 01245 341277
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 depending on property type and 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 acting on breaches of the lease; and undertaking inspections to ensure compliance with statutory requirements.
Flats where Clarion Housing do not provide any services.
This charge is for electricity consumed within a property by an individual resident or owner.
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.
