To query Housing Association rent increase

[Sunsetboater]

Bear with me here as I'm not a statistician and I'm hoping there are some solicitors on here that could let me know if I ABU..
I was not surprised to receive a rent increase notice but shocked by how much - see attached letter received yesterday, +14.3% from £338.55 to £385.51 pcm, nearly £50 pcm. I realise it's not as huge as some have been saying theirs has increased by but still. 😩
I've calmed down a little now and filed it away but I am contemplating contacting the HA to query it.
So, doing a little research re the RPI (Retail Price Index) figures they're basing the increase on, I found this article under gov.uk site (screenshot attached) that the HAs should now be basing their rent increase on CPI (Consumer Price Index) and not RPI. And, digging a little further... it would appear CPI is less than RPI... Therefore, they're using the wrong Index. I can't seem to get a definitive figure on the actual RPI or CPI for 04/2024 but but all the ones I keep seeing on different Solicitors webpages are a lot less than the 14.3% that my HA are quoting in their letter.
Would you query this with the HA or am I barking up the wrong tree?

That says for new shared owners. So does that mean anyone new?

There's some info here from Shelter, you can contact Shelter or Citizens Advice if you need help;

''From April 2024 the maximum rent increase is 7.7%. Service charges are not covered by this cap.''
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/council_housing_association/rent_in_a_council_or_housing_association_home

Unfortunately CPI+1% (so this year 7.7%) standard Housing Association rent increase rules historically do not apply to shared owners. There was a change in Autumn however this is only for new leases. You HA is correct. This article in the industry publication explains it well https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/annual-rent-rises-for-new-shared-owners-brought-in-line-with-social-housing-83505

Ours has gone up by the maximum for rent of 7.7% which makes it a bit over 110pw for a 3 bed semi with a tenancy for life, which I appreciate I am very very fortunate to have and am extremely grateful for but my genuine gratefulness doesn't make me shit the extra few quid and not everyone will be able to afford it even if it is 'just' a few pounds more. There will be people who genuinely won't be able to find that extra money without skipping meals.

Try private renting , mine has gone from £495 to £645 for a one bedroom flat in the Midlands. The second rent rise in about 2 years.
It's scary that's more than half my wages every month. I remember my 2 bed council house being 52 a week 20 years ago .. gone are those days.

So do you pay a mortgage ontop too on shared ownership ?

This is peanuts my rent is over £1200 pcm and increasing yearly at maximum rate. I'll be paying that weekly soon.

With the latest increase, do not forget to check to see if you now qualify for Universal Credit.

I feel for those who are unable to claim but whose payrises will be nowhere near 8%. What happened to the government's claim to help the Just about managing. Sigh!

Is it that the rent has gone up by that %, or has the increase in service charge been a lot of it? Service charge doesn’t have the same caps (or it didn’t back when I was in shared ownership)

Ours went up 9.4% today (shared ownership here too).

You pay a mortgage on the percentage you don’t own. Few banks etc offer mortgages on shared ownership properties, and the rates are usually significantly higher. Then there is the rent, usually set at 80% of equivalent private rent in the area, pro-rata’ed according to how much of the property you ‘own’. So if you bought 25% you pay rent on 75%, so you pay 80% of 75% of equivalent private rent. But you are solely responsible for maintenance, repairs etc. It’s usually leasehold too. I did it many years ago in order to get on the property ladder, it didn’t actually cost me any less than private rent once all the costs were added up, but I felt more secure.

Ours was RPI as of September + 0.5%. RPI in September was 8.9.

Here's a photo of our HAs explanation.

Just realised that was a bit complicated with all the percentages! Just as an example, if rent would be £2k a month on a two bed flat on that street, but you’re in shared ownership and bought a 1/4 (25%) share, that would mean paying 3/4 rent, which would be £1,500 a month, but you ‘only’ pay 80% of that as a shared owner, so £1,200 a month, plus your mortgage, service charge etc.

They are only talking about the rent element, which is going from £323.67 to £369.95, an increase of £46.28, which equals 14.3%.

By all means query it, but the Gov site refers to new shared owners, not ones already living in the property. You should also review your lease again to see whether the increase stated is in line with the calculation.

I did have a mortgage but cashed-in my private pension a few months ago and used this to pay-off the mortgage. Obviously this will have a impact on my 'eventual' retirement but felt I had to do it to avoid going-under.

I'm so sorry that you're in this position 😞

The service charge has gone up by the same percentage.

Which county are you in? I'm in Staffordshire.

Last year our communal electric charge went up to £50 a month (on top of all other things they charge us for) Mine in a 1 bed is £80 a month and I’m home all day. There is no recourse, no seeing the bill and seeing how it had jumped 500%. In fact if their electric is half what they think it’s going to be they have no duty to low it next year or give us a refund. They can charge what they like.

My rent was going up by £500 pcm by my private landlord. I'm now living with family as we simply couldn't afford it, and we also can't find a new home we can afford until we can move from the area, where our teens have grown up, but DS is doing his GCSEs so we are stuck.
I would have loved a £50 raise

This is shocking 😱

LL's all LL's are there to run a business and the ones you quoted are charitable, not for profit.

Please don't forget their overheads, everything is shooting up.

I'm not sure where you live but it looks like a puka deal to me rent wise.

OP is shared ownership so she has mortgage on top!

I sympathise entirely with your particular situation - can't even begin to imagine what some folks are going through 😢

My HA rent goes up at least £25 a month every April. Haven't had this years letter yet though so will wait and see

My Ds has just had a letter from his landlord. From April, his rent is going up from £525 to £650. For a one bed mid terrace in Bradford. Ridiculous