We have written to all our residents to let you know what your rents and service charges will be from 7 April 2025.
Plymouth Community Homes offers its tenants excellent value for money, and our rents remain significantly lower than other local social housing associations, and are less than half the cost of private rents locally.
We are proud that our social rents are on average the fourth lowest in England – and are at least 50% lower than the cost of renting the same property from a private landlord.
Our affordable rents on our newer homes are between 20 and 30% lower than if rented privately.
We are a social landlord and a not for profit community benefit organisation with no shareholders, so money from rents is invested directly back into looking after our homes and communities, and building more homes for future residents.
Some residents also pay us a service charge, which includes the cost of providing communal services like caretaking, cleaning, grounds maintenance and, in some blocks, services like communal lighting, individual heating and TV services.
PCH does not make any profit on our service charges, and only charges what it costs to provide those services.
PCH negotiates energy costs with suppliers to get the best possible price but if prices increase, we have to reflect this increase in the service charge.
Residents living in our sheltered accommodation pay a different service charge which includes the cost of providing support services.
Any service charges are in addition to your social rent. As they cover our costs for providing services, they can go up or down each year.
This includes any adjustment to reflect the actual cost of services from the previous year, compared to what we estimated those costs would be.
How we set our rents
We set our rents using Government guidance which says we can increase rents by the September rate of inflation plus 1%, so from April 2025, rent increases will be 2.7%.
This is based on the September 2024 Consumer Prices inflation rate of 1.7% plus 1%. Service charges are charged in addition to the rent, but affordable rents are inclusive of service charges.
The rent paid by shared owners on the share of their property owned by PCH will also be increasing by 2.7%, as will rents for garage and parking spaces.
How many rent payments are there in the year?
If you pay weekly, we ask you to pay your rent for the whole year over 50 weeks so that you will have two rent-free weeks.
If you pay your rent by monthly Direct Debit, your rent for the year is paid in 12 equal instalments.
However you pay, the total for the year will be the same.
When are the rent-free weeks?
The ‘rent-free weeks’ will be the weeks starting 22 December 2025 and 30 March 2026.
How will I know what changes are being made to my rent?
All tenants will get an individual letter explaining their rent and service charges, and what the changes mean for them.
Service charges this year
If you pay a service charge, you will be sent a statement along with your rent letter to explain what the charges will be for the coming year.
We do not make any profit on our service charges and only pass on the costs involving in providing the services.
This year, the majority of our service charges will be decreasing.
The average weekly service charge across all our homes will be decreasing by 12%, and in sheltered housing schemes, the weekly charge will decrease on average by 18%.
This is largely because electricity and gas prices have reduced.
Supported housing
Residents in our sheltered housing schemes will see a £2 a week increase in their support charge if they started their tenancy before April 2023.
This continues the policy agreed with residents two years ago to steadily increase charges each year until the full cost of the service is met.
Residents who started their tenancy from April 2023 already pay either the full charge, or a reduced charge if they are on a low income and in receipt of council funding. They will both see a 2.7% increase in their charges in line with the percentage rent increase.
Residents on low incomes living in some of our supported housing bungalows fitted with care alarms will need to start paying towards the cost of providing the alarm service from April 2025, as the funding we receive from Plymouth City Council to help cover this cost is being reduced. Residents who are affected by this have already been told directly about the changes.
Here to help
We know that any change in household finances can be difficult, and we understand the cost-of-living pressures facing our tenants. We recognise the challenges people have because of the increased cost of living and we are doing all we can to help.
PCH staff are here to support you if you are struggling to pay your bills, and can offer help with applying for benefits, reducing your bills or accessing Government financial support.
More information and useful animations are available on our Rents and Service Charges webpages.
