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Rent and service charge review 2025-26

Whether you live in one of our rented homes, or you're a shared owner, leaseholder, or freeholder, we review your rent and service charges every year.
A letter will be sent in advance about any changes that apply to you. For most customers, we'll inform you by the end of February, with changes taking effect at the start of April.

We’re intending to post your rent/service charge review letters from 17 February 2025 by 2nd Class post:

Week starting 17 February 2025 – Rent only letter
Week starting 24 February 2025 – Leasehold and shared ownership rent, and service charge letters
Week starting 24 February 2025 - Social rent and service charge increase letters

Take a moment to read your letter carefully. Everything you need to know about how to pay your rent or service charges is included with other important information.
If you don’t understand any part of the letter or have any questions you think aren’t answered in the letter, check to see if there’s an answer below
If you don’t understand any part of the letter or have any questions, check to see if there’s an answer below. You can also contact us on 0800 652 0898, WhatsApp message us on 07401 329880 or through our live chat on the VIVID website or through your online account

We’re sending the letters out in batches by second class post. You should get your letter by the end of February. If you haven’t had a letter by 1 March, then please get in touch with us
If you’ve changed your postal address, it’s important you let us know so we can update your records and can keep in touch with you

If your rent is charged monthly, or quarterly the change starts from 1 April 2025
If your rent is charged weekly, the charge will start on 7 April 2025

Every year we review rents in line with tenancy agreements and government guidance. We follow rules set by the government to calculate any changes to the rent for our social and affordable rented housing customers.
From April, the rents will increase by up to 2.7%. Government legislation for the year 2025-26 states the rent can be increased by up to CPI (Consumer Price Index) + 1%. CPI measures inflation by looking at changes in the prices of goods.
If you’re a shared owner, your rent will be reviewed in line with the terms of your lease, which will generally be linked to RPI (Retail Price Index)
If you claim benefits such as Housing Benefit and Universal Credit to help to pay your rent, the good news is that these will increase in line with inflation from April onwards. We’ll continue to do everything we can to help you and you can find more details on the support we can provide here

As a not-for-profit organisation, we reinvest back into our homes and services.
We're committed to improving repair times, enhancing customer experience, making our homes more energy-efficient to help reduce energy bills, and building more affordable homes to address the housing shortage in the south of England.

If your housing benefit is paid directly to us, you don’t need to do anything as we’ll do this for you. You should be receiving a letter from your housing benefits office confirming your entitlement from April 2025
If housing benefit is paid directly to you, then you do need to let them know of the changes to your rent and service charges as soon as possible
If the Housing Benefit office asks you to provide any information regarding your claim, please provide them with the Rent Review letter as it may affect your claim
If you haven’t received this letter by the end of March, then please give your Housing Benefit office a call
If you don’t currently claim and feel you will not be able to pay your rent, contact your income officer, and use our Benefit & Budgeting Calculator to see whether you are claiming everything that you are entitled to

If you receive Universal Credit and have a Universal Credit Journal, you will receive a ‘confirm your housing costs’ to do. Please enter your new rent and applicable service charges in the screens asking for the new rent details. It will look similar to the below:

Confirmation of new housing costs after 1 April on the government website

Confirmation of new service charges after 1 April on the government website

If you receive Universal Credit, enter your new rent and applicable service charges in the ‘confirm your housing costs’ section in your Universal Credit journal on the date your new charges take effect from
Do not use the ‘change of circumstances’ section to report an annual rent change
If you have a phone claim, you should ring the helpline on 0800 328 5644 after the date your new charges take effect to give them details. If you need help to do this or are making a new claim for Universal Credit, please let us know as we can offer help and support

For more details, visit our Benefits page. There, you'll also find a link to our Benefits and Budgeting Calculator, which can help you determine the benefits you may qualify for and how changes in your household budget could impact your income.

If you pay by direct debit, we’ll automatically recalculate the amount you pay from April 2025 and let you know in writing separately. The adjustment may not take effect until your May 2025 payment. The amount you pay will be adjusted to take any delay into account.
If you receive any housing benefit, the direct debit will be adjusted after your first housing benefit payment is received in April.

Any properties which legally complete between 1 January 2025 to 31 March 2025 won't have a rent review until the following financial year review
Please refer to your solicitor who will be able to confirm if this applies to the property you're purchasing

You can contact us on 0800 652 0898, WhatsApp message us on 07401 329880 or through our live chat on the VIVID website or through your online account.