paying rent and service charges

As a rule, your rent and other charges must be paid every week, one week in advance, unless you have an agreement to pay monthly.

As well as your rent you may also be charged for:

• water rates
• heating
• renting a garage
• services such as concierges, estate street sweeping, grounds maintenance, sheltered housing services, community alarms etc.

We also provide you with written details every March of how much each item of your rent and service charges will be for the year ahead.

The amount that you have to pay will be less if you receive housing benefit.

If you have any questions about your rent or other charges you should contact your Income Collection Officer or Housing Manager.

What we do with the rent you pay

When you pay your rent, the money is put into the ‘housing revenue account'. This money, along with additional money received from the government, pays for the housing services we offer you. It also covers things like borrowing costs for major repairs to properties.

How we calculate your rent and service charges

Every year, Haringey Council calculates how much your rent needs to change, following guidance from the government, so that the costs of managing and maintaining all council housing are covered. We consult you every year about the rent increase and pass your feedback onto the council who consider what you have told us when making a decision about rent increases.

Service charges are set to cover the cost of providing each particular service for example, grounds maintenance, or a concierge. You will pay the same wherever you live in the borough as long as you receive the service. If you receive Housing Benefit this will continue to cover all of the same costs as it does now.

We discuss these changes with residents at our Finance Panel. If you would like to join the panel and have your say, go to our ways to get involved page.

If you want to look at the decision made by the council on rent and service charge increases for 2008/09, download the report from Haringey Council's website.