Are my housing association ripping me off?

[closethedongdong]

I'm so confused
Due to my low income my housing association applied for a 50% discount with the water company.
My rent is £400 a month (including water )
Now I heard nothing back as all communications went to my H/A about the discount
I check my online rent account and see a £186 credit
I ring my HA who confirm it's a credit due to water rates discount
Shouldn't I get that money back to myself?
As I've paid full water and now they have the 50% discount but rather than giving it back to me it's just on my account.
So I said so next month do I pay less £180 rent she said no.
And that i also have to still pay £400 altogether
I said what was the point in me applying then

The water company confirmed to me my bill is 50% less so why am I paying full amount to H/A

Can anyone help

Anyone ?

Presumably if water is included in rent, you have received the credit on your rent account. Can you just withhold rent so you aren't in credit so that you get to keep the money?

Yes they are ripping you off just deduct the amount of next months bill.

Yes the credit was on my rent account but they are saying I still have to pay my full rent next month.
I just don't understand the point of it

If oyur rent account is in credit then just pay what you owe which should be £180 less than normal.

Pay less next month, they’re just taking the piss.

How much total credit is on your rent account?

many HA want tenants to be in credit by a months rent and not paying in arrears, so could this be why you were told the credit wouldn’t be returned to you?

have you got access to your account to print out how much you have in credit?

@ivykaty44 that’s true but OP is still within her rights to pay less next month if she’s not in arrears. I’d guess that lots of peoples accounts aren’t in a month’s credit.

Appleabananasandpears

i was answering the question ask, to help with the confusion, it’s not an opinion on what OP would be within her rights to do. It’s an observation on how HA operate and want to hold on to credit.

I’ve seen HA tell tenants all sorts of dubious facts & figures

No because my UC is paid in arrears it's always a month behind but there's not really much I can do about it
Seems a bit unfair that I got this discount and not seeing any benefit from it