53 weeks in a year ?

[luluxxx]

Can someone advise please
My rent is £116.66 a week
So I times by 52 x12 and pay £506 a month.
I was told by my housing association that there is 53 weeks in a financial year and my rent is £517 a month.
Is this correct?

Divide by 12 not times

52.14 weeks in any year calendar or financial
they appear to be rounding up !

In the last few years there was a 53 week year that affected rents. I would ask your HA for a clearer break down of this year, it doesn't always follow even in a 52 week year that your weekly rent is exactly x52 ÷12. Do you pay service charges? And I'm assuming you have no rent free weeks.

Yes this is something I've seen in my work with clients I support- so wonder if this is the case here.

They are referring to the financial/tax year that runs from 1st April to 31st March each year. Housing Association rents are regulated by the government and based on the financial year. Most years have 52 weeks but 2026 is a 53 week financial year.

Yes service charges are included in the £116.66 and no I don’t have any rent free weeks
The h/a said there’s always 53 weeks in a financial year and not 52

I think this answers it OP although am not sure it should apply to every year going forward.

They might be counting the number of Mondays (or another day) to determine how many weeks there are in a year. So most years there would be 52 Mondays, but every 7 years, there are 53.

That sounds right.

£166 / 7 gives your daily rent.
x by 365 days in a year.
Divide by 52 weeks gives you £116.98 per week.

It depends what day rent is charged to your account - if there’s 53 Mondays in 2026, and rent is charged on a Monday then that’s how they arrive at - 53 week year - it’s a nightmare if you’re on UC, as they pay monthly.

A year has 52 weeks and 1 day. If you're paying monthly, you also have the complication that some months have 4 'start of week days' and some have 5.

Many people would struggle with budgeting if their monthly rent was 25% higher every few months, so the cost is averaged out over the year.

They could also be accounting for the fact that over 7 years, there's an extra week that they could be charging rent for if they charge for 365 days a year instead of 52 x 7 = 364.

Over all their tenants this will be a significant amount of increase in their income.
Perhaps view it as 'your rent is £517 per month', rather than £116.66 per week, as most people budget monthly anyway?

I’m a rent officer. This year isn’t 53 weeks but it was in 24/25 and will be again in 2029 (I think). As a PP said it’s every 7 years.

UC only pay on a 52 week year regardless though so tenants are responsible for paying the 53rd week.

you need to pay every 4 weeks not every month. The calendar isn't that precise! Try dividing 365 (and occasionally 366) by 52 and you'll see what I mean.

The underlying problem is likely to be the distinction between weekly and monthly funds

e.g. Your rent is £116.66, but why do you want a monthly figure ? Is that due to your income frequency meaning that you pay on a monthly basis and therefore need to pay an appropriate amount ?

What happens if you over or under pay?
Do you just have a credit / debit balance or do you get red letters if in debit?
Peace of mind would be able to overpay with the lowest common denominator (days)

£116.66 / 7 x 365.25 / 12. =£507.26 per month
£507.26 per month sits at £6087.12 which is between £6066.32 and £6182.98 for 52 or 53 weeks

There are varying numbers of weeks and days per year, but a fixed number of months (with varying days per month and a leap year adjustment, so I’ve added a quarter day)

You could pay on a 4 weekly basis, but will have months that you make two payments
You could pay a proportioned amount which will over or under pay at any given time

Ot you could pay one of the lower figures on a routine monthly basis along with a diary reminder to pay an extra amount as well (if you are on a standing order then you could pay a fixed amount each month plus a top up which you pay manually or work out a more complex frequency such as quarterly or annually - it’s probably easier to pay a monthly amount that over or underpays and adjust as required at a later date)