All tenants receive a yearly rent statement in April.
We’ve listened, learned and improved the way we communicate with you by introducing a newly designed rent statement letter and FAQs. From your feedback, we know that understanding and viewing them can be overwhelming, especially if you are struggling to pay or trying to get back on track with your payments. We have produced some information to help you understand your rent statement and answer any questions you may have.
Here’s an image of what your statement will look like and what the different parts mean:
Your rent is charged weekly in advance every Monday, in line with your tenancy agreement, and the debt is money that you owe for rent that hasn’t been paid, also known as arrears. If you are in debt then this means you’re not up to date with your rent payments, you should contact our team to discuss how we can help you to get your account into credit and understand any support that we can provide for you.
Evicting you from your home is always the absolute last resort. We will do everything we can to keep you in your home by listening to you, to get an understanding of your situation. We can then help you to get your rent account up to date, by offering you the right support and setting up an affordable repayment plan.
Although your rent account may be in credit, you may not be entitled to a refund, we will need to look at how often you pay and when your next payment is due to make sure you will not fall into debt should a refund be made.
If you pay by Direct Debit and are currently in credit, we have calculated your new Direct Debit and reduced your payments using your credit and a refund may also not be appropriate.
If you are entitled to a refund, we will send you a form to complete. Please note that before any refund is made a check is made with Cheshire West & Chester Council and if any money is owed to them, the debt with the Council is cleared first, before any refund is paid to you. We will also ensure that sufficient credit is left on your rent account to cover the rent until the next payment is due to avoid you falling into debt and in line with your tenancy agreement.
We want to work with you to understand any difficulties you may be facing and if you’re struggling with paying your rent and the rising cost of living. Our friendly team can support you by making sure you’re receiving the financial support that you’re entitled to including Universal Credit, Housing Benefit and other benefits you may qualify for. We can provide wellbeing support or support with volunteering, training and employment.
We have dedicated money advisors who can offer free and impartial money & debt advice, talk you through the options available and help you with the solution you choose. We can also support you with setting up repayment plans, advise on utilities, give advice on budgeting and help you to claim other funding that may be available such as Discretionary Housing Payments, HELP scheme, Household Support Fund and other funds/charitable schemes.
If you would like support, then please complete the online website form below or call us on 0300 123 5522. We’ll do all we can to support you.
You can contact our friendly team to discuss your rent account and the options for setting up an affordable repayment plan, you can also contact us via web chat which can be found on the homepage of the website in the right-hand corner, or by completing the web form below.
Sometimes it can take a few days for money to show on your account. It might have been a few days since we printed your statement and put it in the post, and this is why it doesn’t look up to date. We advise you to check you rent account amount again in a week or so.
You can also use our MyAccount+ app to keep track of your rent account, our app also allows you to report & track repairs and make payments, further information can be found here – MyAccount+ – ForHousing. Or you can request your balance using our web chat on the right hand corner of our website homepage.
If something still isn’t right, you can complete the online website form below or contact us on 0300 123 55 22.
If you have a clear rent account or are in credit, you will only receive a yearly statement in April. If you’re currently in debt, you will be receiving a rent statement every quarter that you are in debt.
If you don’t pay your rent weekly or in advance, then some debt will continue to increase on your account until your next rent payment is made. For example, the amount you pay for rent will get charged to you each week, then once you make your payment, this is credited to your account and balance will then be amended. Your rent statement shows your rent charged and payments made in real time, as of when it was printed. If you receive your statement between this period, this may show you’re your account is in debt.
Ideally, we would ask you to increase your payments slightly so that over time your account will be in credit before you next make a rent payment.
Universal Credit is paid monthly in arrears for your rent, this means that your account will accrue some debt before a payment is made to clear the outstanding balance as your rent will be charged each week as normal and then your Universal Credit will get credited to your account once received.
If Universal Credit are also paying an amount towards your rent debt, this payment is made 4 weekly in arrears and will appear on your rent account in the same way.
It may be that your Housing Benefit is not fully covering your rent or that you were in debt before Housing Benefit started paying your rent in full. A re-payment plan is needed to ensure that your debt is reduced and that you bring your account into credit.
You can log onto the MyAccount+ app to see the most up to date balance on your rent account or ask us for a statement using web chat which can be found on the homepage of the website in the right hand corner.
If you paid in some money on or close to the date we sent your rent statement, then it may not have had time to show on your rent account. This date can be found in your rent statement letter.
If the payment was a week or more before that date, then something may be wrong, please complete an online enquiry form below or call us on 0300 123 5522.
Please click here to find out how you can make payments towards your rent.
If you need your rent statement letter in a different language please call 0161 605 7260. For other formats such as large print, you can call 0300 123 5522.
