Rent & Service Charge Letters

Rent & Service Charge Letters The following information is a sample of the letter and attachments that we are sending to all tenants in March 2011 to ...
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Rent & Service Charge Letters The following information is a sample of the letter and attachments that we are sending to all tenants in March 2011 to notify you of your rent and service charges effective from April 2011.

The letter that you actually receive in the post is individual to you. It will give the rent and service charges you will need to pay from April 2011. The information below is only meant as a guide.

See below for a sample of the letter being sent and other attachments

SAMPLE OF THE LETTER BEING SENT TO ALL TENANTS ABOUT YOUR NEW RENT AND CHARGES Telephone: 08000 121 474 (8.30 – 5.00pm Mon-Thurs, 4.30pm Fri)

«Your Name» «Your Address

Dear

Property address: «Your address» We are writing to you as your landlord, Plymouth Community Homes, to tell you about changes to your rent and service charges for the year starting 4th April 2011. We have included attachments with this letter to give you more information. How much will I pay per week? You are currently paying

From 4th April 2011 you will need to pay

Rent Garage/Hardstanding Rent Gardening Assistance Charge Communal Service Charges Individual Service Charges Support Charges

£ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00

£ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00

Total payable per week

£ 0.00

£ 0.00

Your printed letter will only show the charges that apply to you so you may not see all these lines

IF YOU CURRENTLY RECEIVE HOUSING BENEFIT TOWARD YOUR RENT & SERVICE CHARGES, YOU DO NOT NEED TO REAPPLY. YOU WILL BE SENT FULL DETAILS OF ANY CHANGES IN MARCH. Legal notice about your rent The sentence below called ‘Housing Act 1985’ has to be worded in a formal legal way. If you choose not to pay this increased rent, and end your tenancy, you must tell us in writing by Monday 7th March 2011 at the latest if this is what you want to do. PLEASE TURN OVER

Housing Act 1985 This notice only applies if your rent is increasing. Plymouth Community Homes Ltd as your landlord is required by law to advise you that you have the right to terminate your tenancy if you do not wish to pay the increased rent. Therefore, if you do not wish to pay the increased rent, and want to terminate your tenancy, you have to give me four weeks notice in writing, by Monday 7th March 2011, to expire not later than Monday 4th April 2011 Applying for Housing Benefit If you have a low income and do not get any help to pay your rent at present, you may be entitled to Housing Benefit. Even if you have applied for help to pay your rent before, but did not qualify for Housing Benefit, it is worthwhile applying again. Service Charges (You will not see this paragraph if you don’t receive services) The rent you pay is a payment for your home. Service charges are payments for the services Plymouth community Homes provides to you. You should only pay for the services you receive. You will find a breakdown of your new service charge and additional charges enclosed. Some information about the “Target Rent” we set for your home When we change your rent each year we take into account two things, the first is the rate of inflation and the second is the “target rent” for your home. The “target rent” is a rent the government says is a fair rent for your home. It takes into account the type of home, its location and number of bedrooms. The “target rent” for your property is currently «The Target_Rent for your home will be shown here ». The actual rent you will be paying from April may already be at this target but more likely, it will either be gradually moving up, or moving down, towards it. The “frequently asked questions” booklet explains how the government rules work and more detail about the “Target Rent”. What else is included with this letter • A breakdown of your weekly service charge you need to pay from April •

Information about changes we are making to where you can make cash and cheque payments together with details of our Direct Debit incentive scheme



A statement showing how we arrived at your service charges this year



A sheet explaining your statutory rights and obligations about service charges



A frequently asked questions booklet about your rent, ways to pay and service charges

Your printed letter will only show the charges that apply to you so you may not see all these lines

If you have any questions about this letter then please contact us on 08000 121 474. Yours sincerely

Clive Turner Chief Executive

This letter is available in other languages and in accessible formats. Please contact: (01752) 388336

Address: «Your address»

Payment Reference: «Acct_No»

Charges under your tenancy agreement for 4th April 2011 to 3rd April 2012 Rent Communal Service Charges Caretaking and Cleaning Communal Areas Window Cleaning Plant & Specialist Equipment Door Entry Refuse Bin Cleaning TV Aerials Lighting communal areas Grounds Maintenance Management Charge (less) Affordability cap adjustment

£ 0.00 £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £-

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Total Communal Service Charges Individual Service Charges Heating and Hot water Water Charge (less) Affordability cap adjustment

£ 0.00

£ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00

Total Additional Charges Support Charges Alarm Charge Sheltered Housing Support (less Supporting People Credit) Total Support Charges Weekly total rent and charges to pay

£ 0.00

Your printed letter will only show the charges that apply to you so you will not have so many lines on your own letter

£0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £ 0.00

Service Charges – Important Note We are making a number of changes to service charges this year so your charges may be very different from before. More information about this and how we have set this year’s charges can be seen in the attached “Guide to your Service Charge statement“. Please note if you are in receipt of Housing Benefit the communal service charges listed above are eligible for Housing Benefit, however the individual charges are not so you will need to pay for those charges.

Changes to where you can make cash or cheque payments

We are always looking for ways to improve our services and offer you better value for money.

You told us that you want to see your housing officers spending a lot more of their time out and about in your neighbourhood.

The housing officers want to do this too, so we looked at how we could free up some of their time. We found that taking cash and cheque payments means that they have less time to spend on things like getting out on your estates to meet tenants and leaseholders face-to-face, looking into problems like anti-social behaviour, and carrying out community activities and consultation. It is also expensive for us to process cash and cheques, compared with other payment methods.

So we’re making changes: From April we will no longer be taking cash and cheque payments over the counter at any of our offices. Because our four part-time sub offices at Efford, Ernesettle, Honicknowle and Southway are used very little apart from to take a small number of cash payments, these offices will close at the end of April 2011. This will release more staff time for work in your neighbourhood.

This doesn’t mean you will not be able to pay by cash or cheque – just that the places you can do this will change. You’ll still be able to make free cash payments at one of many Paypoint outlets in your local area. Payments by cash or cheque can also be made at any Post Office. Full details of the ways in which you can pay your rent and any other charges to us are included within our booklet “Your rent and ways to pay”. We’re also introducing special incentives and assistance to help you move to easy Direct Debit payments as that is the best way to pay your rent. This means that if you sign up to pay your rent by Direct Debit we will send you a £10 shopping voucher and give you another £40 in vouchers if you maintain all of your payments to the end of March 2012.

Customers who currently pay by Standing Order and convert to Direct Debit payments and those who are already registered to pay by Direct Debit will also receive our Direct Debit incentive vouchers.

There will also be some extra benefits from this change: •

We are going to be working with tenants to re-design our reception areas to make them more customer friendly and give you additional facilities like access to the internet. Not having cash in the offices means we will no longer need the glass screens.



We will have more staff available to undertake important work on financial inclusion like helping you set up bank accounts, maximise your income and access to affordable loans.



Taking and processing small amounts of cash is expensive and we will be giving you better value for money, which means more money to invest in customer focussed services and spend on your home and estates.

You can find our more information about these changes and where to pay: •

by speaking with your local housing team



by calling us on 08000 121 474



and on our website

Please drop into our offices or call us if you have any questions about how to pay your rent or would like us to arrange to visit you at home to discuss the changes in more detail.

Your local area offices are located at: Devonport

Estover

North Prospect

Whitleigh

10/12 Granby Way Devonport Plymouth PL1 4AB

Leypark Walk Estover Plymouth PL6 8UE

91/93 North Prospect Road North Prospect Plymouth PL2 2NA

101 Whitleigh Green Whitleigh Plymouth PL5 4DE

Tel: 0800 917 9497

Tel: 0800 917 9496

Tel: 0800 917 9499

Tel: 0800 917 9498

**** FROM THIS POINT FORWARD THE INFORMATION ONLY APPLIES TO TENANTS WITH SERVICE CHARGES. IF YOU DO NOT PAY SERVICE CHARGES YOU WILL NOT GET THIS INFORMATION ****

A guide to your service charge statement Enclosed is a statement showing you details of your service charges. This is for information only - it is not a bill. Under the terms of your new Plymouth Community Homes tenancy agreement we will be sending a statement each year that details the services we provide to you. Your service charges are “variable”, your tenancy agreement explains what this means. There is more information about how we calculate variable charges, and about service charges in general, in the booklet we recently sent you entitled "Service Charges" We hope the guide below will be of help when you look at your statement. We have listed the information by the column heading you will find at the top of your statement.

SERVICES These are the services that you receive according to our records. If you want to know more about these services then refer to the booklet "Service Charges" within your Tenants Handbook. The services are split in two types: "Communal Services" are services that are available within the shared areas of your block – the services available to you once you step out of your front door. "Individual Services" are those you receive once you shut your front door. For these services we only pass on the true cost to you, such as your share of the cost of gas if you have heating from a communal boiler. For the first time you will see a "Management Charge". This charge covers the cost of managing the services provided to you and administering service charge accounts and records. This management charge is a flat fee of 13p per service per week, but you will not be charged more than 15% of the total service charge. If you are being charged for a service you don’t think you are receiving then please contact us on 08000121474. Column A - What the services actually cost This column tells you how much the services actually cost between April and September 2010. We have checked our accounts and worked out your share of the cost for the block you live in. This is based on how many flats there are in your block – so the total cost is divided by the number of flats to give you your share of the cost. We also add any costs that are “individual services” to your flat, such as water or communal heating. We then add up all the costs to come up with a grand total. Column B - What you were charged This tells you how much you were charged for services between April and September 2010. Column C - Difference We now take the amount in column A away from the amount in column B to show the difference between what you paid and what you should have paid. If the difference is a positive figure, displayed like this £5.00, then this is the amount you owe us. If the figure is a negative figure, displayed like this -£5.00, then this is the amount we owe you. The figures in the column are added up to come up with a total.

Column D - Estimated cost of Services This is our best estimate of what the services will cost in the coming year, starting in April 2011. Column E - Annual Charge This adds together the Estimated Cost of Services (Column D), plus or minus the difference from the last 6 months (Column C), to give the annual service charge for the coming year. Column F - Weekly charge payable As you pay your rent & service charges over 50 weeks we divide column E by 50 weeks to give a weekly charge. These figures are the same as the ones shown on your main rent notification letter, at the front of this pack. At the bottom of the statement Affordability Cap – (reduction to your total charge) Now that we have fully reviewed what the services cost, we have found that some services cost a lot more now than they did when the basis for your current charge was worked out under the Council. For example energy prices have increased a lot in recent years but the charge for communal heating or lighting has not been increased in line with this, meaning the actual cost is a lot higher than you pay at present. The Council had not fully reviewed these costs or charges for a long time and now we have moved to variable service charges Plymouth Community Homes has to charge for the actual cost. We have also found that the Council was not charging for some services that should have been separate from your rent. These issues mean that the total service charge some tenants should be paying would be much higher than they have been paying. If your charge has been reduced, and the cost of the services remain the same, Plymouth Community Homes will need to increase the charge you pay so that over time we can recover the actual cost. We do however understand that to do this in one go would be difficult for some current tenants so we have agreed to phase in the increases over time until your charge equals the actual cost of services. (By current tenants we mean tenants of Plymouth Community Homes as at March 2011). From April 2011, where relevant, we have reduced your total service charge to keep the increase affordable. The overall increase has been limited so it does not exceed the rate of retail price inflation (RPI) plus a small additional amount to move your current charge toward the charge you should be paying. We have called this reduction the "Affordability Cap". Please note that new tenancies from April 2011 will not get this reduction as these tenants would have accepted their tenancy knowing what the charges are to cover the full cost of services. Queries about your statement Please refer to the "Frequently Asked Questions" booklet for more information and help understanding your statement. If you have any other queries then please contact us on 0800 0121474 and we will be pleased to help. You will also find a separate "statutory notice" notice enclosed that under law we are required to give you now that we are operating variable service charges. This notice informs you of your statutory rights and obligations.

Service Charges – An introduction to your rights and obligations You will find below a summary of your statutory rights and obligations. This is a legal notice that we are required by law to give you and we cannot alter the text. Where the text refers to a “lease” under law this also means your tenancy agreement with Plymouth Community Homes. It also talks about being consulted about and being charged for repairs, maintenance, improvements, and for insurance, this wording is mainly aimed at leaseholders, you will not be charged separately for these items as you pay for this in your rent. The only exception to this is for maintenance or repairs to communal services such as a lift or a door entry system. In all other respects the rights and obligations do apply to you as a tenant.

Service Charges - Summary of tenants' rights and obligations 1. This summary, which briefly sets out your rights and obligations in relation to variable service charges, must by law accompany a demand for service charges. Unless a summary is sent to you with a demand, you may withhold the service charge. The summary does not give a full interpretation of the law and if you are in any doubt about your rights and obligations you should seek independent advice. 2. Your lease sets out your obligations to pay service charges to your landlord in addition to your rent. Service charges are amounts payable for services, repairs, maintenance, improvements, insurance or the landlord's costs of management, to the extent that the costs have been reasonably incurred. 3. You have the right to ask a leasehold valuation tribunal to determine whether you are liable to pay service charges for services, repairs, maintenance, improvements, insurance or management. You may make a request before or after you have paid the service charge. If the tribunal determines that the service charge is payable, the tribunal may also determineo who should pay the service charge and who it should be paid to; o the amount; o the date it should be paid by; and o how it should be paid. However, you do not have these rights wherea matter has been agreed or admitted by you; a matter has already been, or is to be, referred to arbitration or has been determined by arbitration and you agreed to go to arbitration after the disagreement about the service charge or costs arose; or o a matter has been decided by a court. 4. If your lease allows your landlord to recover costs incurred or that may be incurred in legal proceedings as service charges, you may ask the court or tribunal, before which those proceedings were brought, to rule that your landlord may not do so. 5. Where you seek a determination from a leasehold valuation tribunal, you will have to pay an application fee and, where the matter proceeds to a hearing, a hearing fee, unless you qualify for a waiver or reduction. The total fees payable will not exceed £500, but making an application may incur additional costs, such as professional fees, which you may also have to pay. 6. A leasehold valuation tribunal has the power to award costs, not exceeding £500, against a party to any proceedings whereo it dismisses a matter because it is frivolous, vexatious or an abuse of process; or o it considers a party has acted frivolously, vexatiously, abusively, disruptively or unreasonably. o o

The Upper Tribunal has similar powers when hearing an appeal against a decision of a leasehold valuation tribunal.

7. If your landlordo proposes works on a building or any other premises that will cost you or any other tenant more than £250, or o proposes to enter into an agreement for works or services which will last for more than 12 months and will cost you or any other tenant more than £100 in any 12 month accounting period, o your contribution will be limited to these amounts unless your landlord has properly consulted on the proposed works or agreement or a leasehold valuation tribunal has agreed that consultation is not required. 8. You have the right to apply to a leasehold valuation tribunal to ask it to determine whether your lease should be varied on the grounds that it does not make satisfactory provision in respect of the calculation of a service charge payable under the lease. 9. You have the right to write to your landlord to request a written summary of the costs which make up the service charges. The summary musto cover the last 12 month period used for making up the accounts relating to the service charge ending no later than the date of your request, where the accounts are made up for 12 month periods; or o cover the 12 month period ending with the date of your request, where the accounts are not made up for 12 month periods. The summary must be given to you within 1 month of your request or 6 months of the end of the period to which the summary relates whichever is the later. 10. You have the right, within 6 months of receiving a written summary of costs, to require the landlord to provide you with reasonable facilities to inspect the accounts, receipts and other documents supporting the summary and for taking copies or extracts from them. 11. You have the right to ask an accountant or surveyor to carry out an audit of the financial management of the premises containing your dwelling, to establish the obligations of your landlord and the extent to which the service charges you pay are being used efficiently. It will depend on your circumstances whether you can exercise this right alone or only with the support of others living in the premises. You are strongly advised to seek independent advice before exercising this right. 12. Your lease may give your landlord a right of re-entry or forfeiture where you have failed to pay charges which are properly due under the lease. However, to exercise this right, the landlord must meet all the legal requirements and obtain a court order. A court order will only be granted if you have admitted you are liable to pay the amount or it is finally determined by a court, tribunal or by arbitration that the amount is due. The court has a wide discretion in granting such an order and it will take into account all the circumstances of the case.".

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