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

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.

Important update: new rent from April 2013

Following the Council's rent increase consultation in February, the Council is now preparing to write to all council tenants in Haringey to tell them about their new rent amounts. If you are currently receiving Housing Benefit then this amount may well have been reduced following the Government's changes to housing benefit. If you were previously receiving 100% Council Tax Benefit, you may find that you will now have to pay Council Tax of potentially up to £250 a year.

Council Tax:

Non-payment of Council Tax can lead to a criminal record and even a custodial sentence. If you are struggling with your Council Tax payments, get in touch with the Council as soon as possible:

Write to: Benefits Service, Haringey Council, PO Box 10505, London N22 7WJ
Call: 020 8489 1000
Email: benefits@haringey.gov.uk
Visit your local Customer Service Centre (external link).

You can find out more about these changes on our Benefits page. Please get in touch with us if you are concerned about being able to make your rent payments so we can discuss your options with you. Call our Financial Inclusion team on 020 8489 1539.

Housing Benefit:

Housing Benefit is now being calculated based on how many bedrooms you need rather than actually have in your home. This means that if you are under-occupying your home, or, put simply, if you have bedrooms that the Government thinks you don't need, your Housing Benefit is reduced.

Find out more about the changes to housing benefit on our Benefits page. If your housing benefit is reduced and you don't think you can afford to pay the extra amount in rent, then please get in touch with your Tenancy Management Officer (until 28 March) or, from 2 April, call our new Housing Operations department on 020 8489 5611 to look at options to move to a smaller home.

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 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.

Find out more about the rent increase for 2013/14.

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 have any rent queries, please get in touch with our Income Collection team at: incomecollectionteam@homesforharingey.org.