Our Rents & Service Charge

The Welsh Government said we must set rents and service charges that ensure our homes remain affordable and deliver value for money.

You told us that our flats should be cheaper than our houses, and older properties should cost less than new properties. You thought we need to take household income as well as property size into account when setting rents. You also told us that the quality of services was more important than the cost. When asked, 87.5% of tenants are satisfied that rents are value for money and 62.5% that service charges are value for money.

Your Views

• We survey 500 tenants by telephone each year to get feedback
• We hold tenant events on affordability every year, last November we held a weeklong virtual tenant conference which included a day dedicated to rents and service charges. We consult with tenants on service changes      

• We compare our rent affordability to households on low income
• We review whether the amount of rent increase is reasonable

Fairness           

• Our older properties are cheaper than newer more energy-efficient homes
• Rents on flats are less than rents on houses
• Rents reflect typical household incomes for property size
• We make sure our rents are reasonable and in line with other social landlords and the private sector

Value               

• We assess our performance against indicators set by tenants and we publish this in our statutory accounts and on our website which you can view here
• We assess our corporate performance against established social housing indicators and publish this on our website here
• We compare our performance to other associations in Wales 
• We are actively working to reduce or eliminate service charges and ensure value for money

Rent Uplift from 1^st April 2023

This year rent uplift is 6.5%.

Service Charges

Social landlords are expected to set a rent and service charge policy which ensures that social housing remains affordable for current and future tenants. We recover all eligible charges with reference to the National Housing Federation guide for social housing landlords. 

We operate a fixed service charge system. The way we ensure you are being charged fairly is to base the charge on actual contracts or if we must estimate it is based on the previous year. Any changes to the amount we pay for these services during the year are adjusted in your next years’ service charge.

The service charge procedure takes into account affordability and contains a mechanism to offer discounts to tenants where the rent and service charge together is deemed to be unaffordable in exceptional cases.

For more information or if you would like to discuss this with us, please email enquiries@newydd.co.uk or call us on 0303 040 1998.