Rents usually change every year to help us cover our costs.

We’re a not-for-profit, but things still cost us more every year.

So we adjust our rents every April to be responsible as a business. Otherwise, eventually, we’d be in trouble.

Click here for more details on what you rent covers

Normally, rents would go up in line with inflation, to cover our costs as prices go up.

But this isn’t a normal year. No one imagined inflation levels of more than 10%.

We’ve had some guidance from the Government about how much rents should be, and they’ve said we shouldn’t increase rents by more than 7%.

We welcome this steer because we don’t want anyone to struggle.

We have more information here about what rents cover and why they change every year.

Service charges are different to rents - but we're still concerned about keeping them affordable.

If your service charges would've gone up by more than £3 per week next year, we've applied a cap. This is to help service charges stay affordable.

Every year, before March, we look at how much we’ve spent in the year just gone and plan for any major work that we know is coming up.

Click here for more on how we calculate our service charges

If you’re getting a Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, the Government has confirmed that these payments will go up with inflation.

This means your benefits will go up 10%, which should cover your rent (which is going up 7%).

Note: this will depend on your individual situation and what you're entitled to.

At the end of 2022, the Government confirmed that pensions will go up 10% - in line with inflation.

They have put something in place called the "triple lock".

This means your pension should cover your new rent, if this applies to you.

This is how much we feel we need to keep investing in our homes and offer good quality services.

As a not-for-profit business, it’s a balancing act. We have to cover costs and be responsible.

But we also need to keep your rents as affordable as possible.

We don’t want anyone to struggle, so rents are going up less than inflation (which is 10.5%).

Because of this, we’ll need to make some tough choices – for example, we may build fewer homes. But we won’t compromise on what’s important (e.g. building safety).

But if you have any worries about rent, please talk to us. We wouldn’t evict someone who is working with us and you don’t have to sort everything out on your own.

Increasing rents won’t make a profit for B3Living. But it will help us balance the books.

Like all businesses in the UK, everything we need is costing us more.

But our rents are going up less than inflation, so we will need to make some tough choices.

But to reassure you, we won’t compromise on what’s important, such as:

• Keeping our homes safe.
• Investing in homes to lower energy bills.
• Supporting our community (e.g. foodbanks, Citizens Advice, etc).
• Paying our team a fair wage.

Our priority is still to invest in our homes and communities.

For example, we spend approx. a third of our rents (if not more) on repairs and maintenance alone. In 2021-22, this was more than £12m.

We’ve also invested in a Customer Coach and we’re upgrading homes to help lower customer energy bills.

We may have to build fewer homes.

Our rents are below inflation and far below the private market, so we will need to make tough choices and spend money wisely.

Investing in our existing homes is a priority.

But we’re also the only organisation building affordable homes in our borough. Unless we find a way to keep doing this, families in a similar position to what you may have been in will struggle to move off the waiting lists.