The rent you pay goes directly back into repairing and maintaining homes to ensure they are safe and of good quality, funding vital services and support for tenants, and improving the energy efficiency of homes to reduce fuel bills and work towards zero-carbon targets.

The 2024/25 rent increase has been calculated in line with government policy, following an inflation linked Government formula that makes sure rent levels are capped and remain at an affordable level. We always try to keep rents as affordable as possible, but we need to balance this with the rising costs of repairing and maintaining homes and other essential goods and services.

Like all social housing providers, we follow the Government’s guidelines on rent setting. We work it out by taking the previous September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate, which was 6.7% this year and add 1% to it. This means we’ll be increasing your rent by 7.7% from April 2024.

Stockport Council rents remain one of the lowest in Greater Manchester (GM).  Out of a sample of 109 housing providers across different GM Boroughs, Stockport Council had the 8th lowest rents.

We won’t be able to change what you need to pay for your rent and service charges.

However, we understand times are tough and we’re doing everything we can to support our customers during this period.

Our dedicated, expert Money Advice Team can support you if you’re having difficulties. They will complete a full financial assessment and provide advice and support for income maximisation, reducing outgoings where possible and can support with a hardship fund payment where appropriate. You can contact them Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 5pm on 0161 217 6016, option 3, or email them at [email protected].

If you pay by Direct Debit in most cases the payments will have been calculated so that when your last payment is made in March 2024 you will not have any rent arrears. It’s possible that your account may go into arrears during the year dependent on when your payments are due.

Any letters received show the balance on your account at the date of printing, so if you have made any payments since this date these will not be reflective. Your method of payment will also affect when the payment is showing on your account.  Payments made at a Post Office or Pay Point outlet take 3 working days to reach your account, and all other methods should be showing the next working day.

It depends…..If you pay by Direct Debit the account is unlikely to actually be in true credit. Your payments will have been calculated so that when your last payment is made in March 2024 you will have a zero balance. It’s possible that your account may look as though it is in credit during the year dependent on when your payments are due.

If you do not pay by Direct Debit you are required to have credit on your account to ensure you are paying in advance in line with your tenancy agreement and the amount will depend on the frequency of your payments for example weekly payers a week in advance, monthly a month etc.

If the credit is the result of a payment from Universal Credit or Housing Benefit in most cases we will not be able to issue a refund to you.

You will receive a Notification of Rent and Other Charges letter on or before 4^th March 2024 and this will give you a full breakdown of your rent and service charges for the next year.

You don’t need to do anything! You will receive another letter in the next couple of weeks which tells you what your housing benefit entitlement will be from April 2024.

No, you don’t need to do anything if you pay by Direct Debit. Your new payments from April will be calculated automatically and you will receive a further letter before the end of March telling you what your payments will be.

Yes, you will need to update Universal Credit with your new Housing Costs information. You will need to keep checking your online claim on or after 1^st April 2024 as you will be set a ‘to-do’ by the DWP to update the ‘Where you Live and What it Costs’ section of your claim.

We will be sending some information out about your new charges to help you with this task around the time you will be asked to update your claim. Please make sure we have your up to date email address so that we can get this information to you. If you need to update your claim before you receive anything from us, you can contact us Monday to Friday 8.30am until 5.00pm on 0161 217 6016 option 3.

You can also read the step by step guide to updating your claim.