to be fuming at my Housing Association and also worried at this rise in my rent

[MistyMountainHop]

am in housing association and have been for nearly 3 years

the rent has gone up very slightly every year i have been here, which is fair enough, but only by about a quid a week which over the year is about £4 or £5 a month, not really noticeable.

this year, we just got a letter to say that its going up £5 a WEEK

may not sound a lot to many of you but it IS a lot to me. and i actually think that is a big rise, i worked out i will have to work a day to earn what the extra rents going to be.

i am fuming

and wtf is going to happen next year, will the same thing happen again? we are already being squeezed to breaking point with the cost of everything else. don't get me wrong, i am very GRATEFUL to be in a HA house as the security is fantastic, but i am worried the rents heading towards the rip off territory of private rentals :(

do they not see that all this will do is INCREASE the benefits bill as those on benefits will get it paid for them anyway and those that work on low wages will need housing benefit top ups to be able to afford the rent. the state of this country is beyond a joke.

With the interest rate rise just announced my mortgage is going to go up by c.£100pcm. Can't get HB for mortgage, and on a fixed, low income. You have my sympathies, op.

thats awful darlene :( i couldnt even comtemplate being able to find another 100 a month, i feel for you

god this place has changed- for the better

I haven't been around for a while- but the way these threads were going a bit ago was that there would be a "if you don't like it, move" sort of comment and all the nasties would pile in- seemed like any mention of social housing would bring them flocking

I do feel for you, Misty...I was a HO in a HA in another life and I used to dread rent increase day. I remember our Finance Director once on the verge of tears when we had to put 'em up

of course, this is no help to you.

Speaking to a friend this morning who is worried sick about the mortgage rate increase - for her £75 per month. She is self employed and was already sttruggling with the downturn in business, so really can't afford this.

Things financially seem to be getting harder for everyone, except the very richest

From what I can work out the raise in housing association rents to 'affordable' levels (80% of private rent value is NOT affordable but hey) is to fund the building of further social housing.

Which would be a good idea, only it means housing benefit bills will rise, some on housing benefit will find themselves having to find the difference between their HB and the rent from other benefits - and HB only pays 30% of private rents remember - and families previously working and paying the rents themselves are going to have to get HB top ups.

Get over it, my rent for 2 bed is £1000 per month because I can't get a HA or council place. Im a LP working 70 hours a week to pay for it! I'd love the security of a HA place rather than bastard private landlords. Council / HA list 4 years long here (unless you've got 4 kids and no job in which case you can live in a beautiful mansion for fuck all whilst the rest of us pay for it.

And there we go

There's two things going on here, I think.

The first is this affordable rents thing, which HAs are having to charge in order to raise money to build new homes. That's 80% of market rents usually, and will only apply to new tenancies as far as I know. Or at least that's the case in my area.

The significant rent increase at the mo is due to the fact that inflation is high, or to be more specific it was high late last year, which is the figure that is used to calculate HAs rent increases. They're not a choice for most HAs, there is a set government formula.

So although it's horrible news OP, please don't be angry with your landlord. And if you're going to struggle to pay, why not contact them? Our HA offers all sorts of financial advice including checking you're getting all the benefits you might be entitled to.

HTH

I can see that it has to go up, but can also see its bloody hard for you

so neither are BU