Are you on Universal Credit (UC)? Don't complete new rent charges on your 'to do' tasks too soon!
You need to complete your new rent and service charges (as detailed in your rent review letter) on your UC journal on, or just after, the date your rent change takes effect. It’s important you don’t do this before the change to charges and that it's completed before the end of your assessment period.
If you are on a weekly, 48 weekly or 50 weekly tenancy, you need to complete your 'to-do' tasks on your Universal Credit journal on 7 April.
If you pay your rent monthly, you need to complete your 'to-do' tasks on your Universal Credit journal on 1 April.
Please check your rent review letter for the new charge and the correct date to complete your 'to do' tasks. If you do it too soon, you will record the wrong rent amount and we might not be able to verify the update.
If you have any questions, call 0300 5000 0926 and ask to speak to Customer Accounts.
We review our rent and service charges every year, to ensure we can continue providing support for our customers, carry out improvements to your home and estate, and build much needed new, affordable homes.
Any rent and service charge increase is linked to inflation and in line with government rent policies, which are based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure as at the previous September. Increases, and the potential impact on customers, are always considered by our engaged customer groups, who provide feedback on this to the SNG Board.
Please see below for frequently asked questions about the annual rent and service charge review.
FAQs - annual rent and service charge review 2025
The income from your rent is used to provide services and to maintain and build affordable homes for our customers.
In recent years we’ve experienced considerable, and in some cases substantially higher than inflation, increases to our costs of providing these.
We want to continue to invest in providing the level and range of services that our customers want. All income raised through rent increases will be invested in this, as well as modernising and improving existing homes and building much needed new ones.
The rent increases and potential impact on customers was considered by the Resident and Board Partnership. They provided feedback on this to the Board of Sovereign Network Group, who approved the rent increases. They also approved that additional funding be provided to the existing customer support and community funds, to help reduce the potential impact of the rent increase on customers.
For shared owners the rent increase level and date are set out in their lease agreement. For many shared owners this is based on the Retail Price Index figure as at the previous September, plus an additional 0.5%. For rent increases in April 2025 this is 3.2%.
Please refer to your individual lease for details of your own rent increase method.
Most tenant’s rent increases are set in accordance with government rent policies, which is the Consumer Price Index figure as at the previous September, plus an additional 1%. This is an increase of 2.7% from April 2025.
For tenancies that aren’t included in government rent policies, the rent increase will also be 2.7%. However, if there is a clause within the tenancy which would make the increase a lower amount, this will be followed.
For key workers living in NHS accommodation the rent increase is based on agreements with the relevant NHS Trust. The rent increase for these properties won’t take place until May 2025.
South and West garages - the charge increase for garage licences from April 2025 is 1.7%. This is the September 2024 Consumer Price Index figure.
If you have additional service charges, you’ll have received information about the estimated charges from April 2025 with your rent review letter.
Your service charges only cover the costs of providing the service, we don’t make any additional income from your service charge.
We understand that rent increases can be worrying and difficult to manage.
If you’re worried about how you’re going to pay your rent and other charges, please get in touch as soon as possible. It's better to deal with the problem straight away rather than letting rent arrears build up and putting yourself at risk of losing your home.
There are a number of ways that that we may be able to help, including:
- setting up a payment plan
- assessing if you are entitled to benefits than you aren’t currently receiving
- helping you to make a budget
- providing support with managing and writing off debt
- exploring employment and training opportunities to raise your income.
Call 0300 5000 926 and ask to speak to Customer Accounts, who will be happy to help you work out a way forward.
Some information on the support we offer is included in the Our services guide [pdf, 2MB] 
- which was sent to you along with your rent increase letter - and you can find out about our support services on this website, including the Better Off Calculator and ways to lower your household bills.
There are normally 52 weeks in a year, and we charge customers on a weekly basis to cover this period. Rent weeks always start on a Monday.
But every five or six years, the days of the week fall so there are 53 Mondays - and therefore 53 ‘rent weeks’ - in a year. The next time this will happen is the financial year from Monday 1 April 2024 to Sunday 6 April 2025.
This means there will be an extra week of rent to pay if you are on a weekly tenancy agreement or licence.
Calculating your extra payment depends on any benefits you receive, how you pay your rent and how often you make payments.
The letter you were sent will specify the start date of your new charge. In most cases this will be 7 April 2025 if you’re charged weekly or 1 April 2025 if you’re charged monthly.
You should make sure any payments for your charges due from April are at the new amount.
We will calculate and automatically update your new payments to your new charges. You won’t need to take any action.
Please note, PayPoint will notify you that the existing payment schedule will end, and then send details of your new payment schedule a day or two after.
If you do not hear from us or you do not think the amount is correct, please get in touch.
As this is an agreement between you and your bank, you will need to advise them of the amount to increase this to, and the date that your new payment should start.
If your Housing Benefit is paid directly to us (as of January 2025) we will notify your local authority of your new charges. If you don’t receive confirmation from them of what your new entitlement from April will be, you should also inform them of your new charges.
If your Housing Benefit is paid directly to you, or your claim has only recently started or been paid directly to us, you will need to let your local authority know of your new charges.
Please keep your rent review letter safe – you’ll need it in April.
On or after 7 April 2025, you should receive a to-do from Universal Credit on your claim portal called “confirm your housing costs”. Use the information in your rent review letter to complete the to-do before the due date to avoid problems with your payments.
It’s important for this to be completed by the end of your monthly Universal Credit assessment period. If you haven’t received a “to-do” by the end of your assessment period, please contact Universal Credit directly, otherwise your housing costs may not be correct for April.
If you’re unsure what to do, please get in touch with us for advice.
Please call 0300 5000 926 and one of the team can set up your Direct Debit over the phone. Alternatively, just print off the form [docx, 159KB] , complete both pages in full, then take a picture and email it back to us at financerentandproperty@sng.org.uk or post it to the address on the form.
If you don’t have a printer, call us on 0300 5000 926 and we’ll send the form in the post.
If you pay by Direct Debit, any additional payment arrangements will be taken into account and included in your new payment amount.
If you pay by any other way and are unsure how much you should be paying, please get in contact with us.
Rent increases are applied in the same way to all our properties. We won’t carry out a review of your rent increase based on your own individual circumstances. However, if you believe an error has been made in how your new rent has been calculated, please let us know.
Some customers will have received a rent increase notice with their letter. This depends on the type of tenancy held and for how long. These customers can apply for their proposed rent to be reviewed against rents for properties let on the open market by the First Tier Tribunal. Details on how to do this are on the back of the notice. If you would like to apply for a review, you must do so before the date your new rent starts.
They are many ways you can contact us - including giving us a call us on 0300 5000 926, emailing contact@sovereign.org.uk or completing our online form.