Rents and service charges

Your rent is used to manage, maintain and improve your home, strengthen your community and help fund the building of new homes.

Your rent is charged on a weekly basis and is due weekly in advance.

This year payments are due from 7 April 2025 to 5 April 2026.

If you choose to pay fortnightly, your payment will need to cover the current week and week following. You can also pay monthly in advance. We check your account at the end of each week.

Our rent year runs from 7 April 2025 to 5 April 2026.

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.

There are two ‘rent-free weeks’ which will be the weeks starting 22 December 2025 and 30 March 2026.

If you are in arrears, have a court order or have another arrangement in place to clear arrears, you will still be expected to make payments during the rent-free weeks.

A social rent is based on a Government formula which takes into account the number of bedrooms, together with local wages and the open market value of the property.

PCH social rents are about 50% cheaper than renting the same property from a private landlord.

An affordable rent is higher than social rent and is charged on most properties built since 2010, but is still around 20% to 30% cheaper than renting from a private landlord.

We set our affordable rents using Government guidance which says that when they are relet they can be charged at up to 80% of the rent for equivalent property let by a landlord in the private market (inclusive of any service charges).

Like all social landlords, we follow the Government’s guidance on the rents we charge each year. 

Our social rents are on average the fourth lowest in the country. and although any increase is difficult, PCH works hard to make sure they remain affordable for local people.

From April 2025, we will be increasing our rents by 2.7% following the Government’s guidance for social landlords.

This increase is calculated based on the rate of inflation (September 2024 Consumer Prices inflation rate of 1.7% + 1%).

We need to charge an increased rent to help us meet the increased costs involved in keeping our homes in good repair, making any necessary improvements, and building more affordable homes, so that we can meet the needs of local people both now and in the future.

We know that your home is important to you, and we make sure that your rent goes back into providing good quality affordable housing and supporting the communities we work within.

We understand that you might be worried about your rent, especially if you are struggling cost-of-living pressures.

Residents still need to continue paying their rent, but if you’re struggling, it’s important that you let us know as soon as possible so we can try to help.

The sooner we know, the sooner we can work to find a solution for you.

If you need help, please contact the Income Recovery and Financial Inclusion Team as soon as possible on Freephone 0800 028 0350 or (01752) 388121.

Money worries, especially debt, can have longstanding effects on your health, as well as having wider implications for you and your family. We work with several agencies that can help you resolve your problems in complete confidence.

Our teams can also help with applications for benefits, advice on Government support available to help with cost-of-living rises and energy costs, and other financial aid that you may qualify for, as well as debt advice.

Last year we supported hundreds of people to resolve their debt problems, access benefits they were entitled to, or source financial support.

If you are worrying about money and paying your rent, please contact us as soon as possible.

If you have a low income and do not get any help to pay your rent at present, you may be entitled to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit.

If you are of pension age and would like to make an application for Housing Benefit you can do this online here or by contacting Plymouth City Council  on 01752 668000 or by speaking to our Income Recovery and Financial Inclusion Team on Freephone 0800 028 0350 or (01752) 388121.

If you are of working age you will need to apply for Universal Credit which replaces a range of working age benefits and Tax Credits to simplify the system and make work pay. To find out if you can make a claim, and for the latest information, visit, www.gov.uk/univer­sal-credit or speak to our Income Recovery and Financial Inclusion Team on Freephone 0800 028 0350 or (01752) 388121.

If you receive housing benefit now and you live in Plymouth, you do not need to reapply.

You will receive a letter from the Housing Benefit Office that will tell you your new benefit entitlement and the revised amount you should pay each week.

If you receive housing benefit now and live outside of Plymouth, you do not need to reapply but you do need to let your local Housing Benefit Office know how much your new rent is going to be. 

They will then let you know your new benefit entitlement and the revised amount you should pay each week.

If you start claiming Universal Credit there will be a delay of around a month before your regular payments arrive, known as the waiting period - as Universal Credit is paid monthly in arrears. We advise keeping 4 weeks' rent credit on your rent account to provide a financial cushion.

If you receive Universal Credit and there are any changes to your rent or service charges you need to report this change to the Department of Work and Pensions by logging onto your Universal Credit journal.

In April 2025, the DWP should put a 'to do' note on your journal asking you to update your housing costs. 

This must be done before the end of your assessment period in which the change has occurred. If you do not have an update on your journal, you still need to tell the DWP your new housing costs, but you should not do this until 7 April 2025, or as soon after as possible.

Please report this change to the DWP on, or as soon after the 7 April 2025 as possible.

Direct Debit is the best way to pay your rent.

Direct Debit is safe and easy which is why many our residents now choose to pay this way. If you set up a Direct Debit you are protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee. You can pay weekly, fortnightly, four weekly or monthly on any date you choose.

These payments should be made in advance in line with the terms of your tenancy agreement.

For more information or to set up a Direct Debit, contact us on Freephone 0800 028 0350 or (01752) 388121.

We are currently unable to give you the option of receiving your annual rent notification as an email, or sharing the information via another digital channel such as the website or MyPCH portal. 

This is because your tenancy agreement is a legally binding contract which stipulates that PCH as your landlord has to issue this notification to you by post each year. This is something we will be reviewing in future as part of ongoing work to provide increased digital communication options to residents who prefer to receive information this way.

A service charge is a charge made for services we provide to your block or home that are not covered by the rent, such as caretaking, cleaning, grass cutting and communal lighting.

Service charges are needed to share the cost of providing services to areas used by residents. These are mainly for the communal areas and grounds but for some residents, service charges also include TV services and individual heating provided by a communal heating system.

Services included in the charge could be things like:

• Window cleaning
• Bin cleaning
• Maintaining your building
• Looking after the area around your building
• Grass cutting
• Hedge trimming
• Cleaning stairwells
• Providing laundries
• Keeping the building clean, tidy and safe
• Shared on-site facilities, like community rooms
• Managing specialist equipment, like lifts
• Communal lighting

Plus the cost of managing and administering these services.

When we work out our service charges, we only charge you what it actually costs us to provide these services.

That means we do not make a profit from service charges.

We operate a variable service charge system, which means we will only charge you the actual amount it costs us for the services you receive.

We aim to provide services in the most reasonable and cost-effective way and to a standard acceptable to you our residents. The same charges are made to all homes and residents who receive or benefit from them.

The service charge statement shows you the difference between the actual costs, compared to what we originally estimated for the period October 2023 to September 2024. This period is called the ‘look back period’.

At the same time we then estimate how much your service charge will be for the following 12 months. By law, if we make this charge, we must make an adjustment when we know how much the services actually cost. We want to be open and transparent with you about these costs and the adjustment.

The estimate might be different from the actual cost due to things like changes in inflation or different products being used to provide services. Once we know the actual cost, we either add or deduct the difference from the estimated cost of the services for the next year (starting April 2025) to give your new service charge.

Every year in September, we look back over the previous year to see what it actually cost to provide services to you.

We look at the period from October in the previous year, to September in the following year, so we get a full 12 month’s costs.

We then check if it cost more, or less, than the amount we originally estimated.

If services cost more, we will add the difference onto your service charge for the next year’s services. If they cost less, we will deduct the difference from your service charge for next year’s services.

At the same time, we estimate costs for the coming year – which runs from 7 April 2025 until 5 April 2026.

We send your service charge statement (covering the adjustment for October 2023 – September 2024) and your bill for the following year (covering April 2025 – March 2026) at the same time – this usually arrives in February along with your rent letter.

All annual charges start from April, unless a new service is introduced during the year.

If we overestimated your service charge for the look back period, any extra money you have paid will be taken into account by reducing your service charge for the year starting from April 2025.

If you live in a block of flats with communal services, everyone in the block has access to the facilities. Whether you choose to use it or not, all residents in the block share the cost of communal services and the cost is shared between all properties in the block.

Each block, however similar, will have costs that can vary. For example, one block may have more flats than another, so the costs are shared among more residents. This makes the cost per resident lower. Some blocks have more grounds to maintain or larger courtyards to clean, so the service charge may be higher.

There is a cost in running and managing the services provided to your block. These costs are covered by the management charge.

This includes calculating the charges and adjustments, managing the contracts, making payments to our contractors and suppliers, providing information and consulting with residents.

The management charge equates to 22p per service, per week, and is never more than 15% of the total cost of your service charges.

The Support Charge is a charge that tenants of Housing with Support schemes pay to cover the cost of support, including staff who manage the scheme and provide support services. 

Charges may be different for individual tenants and how long someone has held their tenancy in supported housing.  It will also be dependent on whether tenants are eligible for part funding by Plymouth City Council, (if in receipt of eligible state benefits), or eligible for transitional support toward their charge from Plymouth Community Homes.

If you live in supported housing and have queries about your Support Charge, your Housing with Support Officer is available and can provide further advice and support.

There is also a separate support charge for those residents with personal alarm systems in their supported housing bungalows.

We operate a variable service charge and the cost of providing services are calculated annually so there may be a number of factors why the service charge may change from year to year.

For example, some residents have a communal heating system to heat their home which means they have a service charge for heating. 

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. 

Costs can also increase if someone uses more gas than we originally estimated they would.

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.

Our charges are also affected by the increased rate of inflation, so the cost of goods, services, and wages PCH has to pay for has gone up. 

Tenants will see a breakdown of their individual service charge in the individual notification letters sent in February.

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.

The Service Charge for Building Insurance for leaseholders and shared owners has increased this year because of a substantial increase in insurance policy costs worldwide and global market conditions for insuring property stock, including the housing stock insurance policy which PCH takes out.

There is also a new method for calculating insurance costs for shared ownership and leaseholder properties, and whereas previously the calculation method was based on bedroom numbers, the new regulatory requirement apportions the costs per property through a direct property insurance calculation method.

The PCH insurance policy renews on an annual basis, and we run a very competitive process. We will be going out to tender later this year for next year's policy.

The increase in the premium is the result of the increased costs for building's insurance - but the look back adjustment means last year's estimated charges were based on the lower insurances costs for 2022/2023 and therefore were underestimated.

Insurance costs have increased in the last 2 years, so this increase comprises a catch up from an under charge due to the actual costs incurred compared to the charge estimated in the prior year, and then a current year charge reflecting the higher insurance cost that is reflected in the final charge, which is a legal requirement to be paid.

The new Service Charge bill for Building's Insurance includes the adjusted costs of paying the actual costs for your building's insurance last year, as well as the projected costs for the coming financial year based on the new calculation method and the increased costs.

Leaseholders and shared owners own or part-own their homes, so it is their legal responsibility to pay the full cost of their building's insurance.

It is written into the leases for leaseholders and shared owners that they need to pay for their landlord's building insurance, rather than sourcing their own insurance independently.