Reviewing rent payments

Permanent change to income

A permanent change to income means any changes that lasts longer than 8 weeks. This could be things like:

• starting or stopping work
• going onto a benefit, or
• getting a pay rise.

Some changes are only temporary, e.g:

• your hours change each week, or
• you're temporarily sick and can’t work.

You need to tell us if this happens, so we can see if this change is permanent before we review your rent.

This means you don't have to worry about your rent changing amounts each week, so it makes it easier to plan ahead.

12 months since last review

If we haven’t reviewed your rent for 12 months, we'll send you a letter to check if your situation has changed. This includes things like income changes, if anyone has moved out or moved in etc. If there are changes, it may affect how much rent you pay.

You need to check the information in the letter to see if it's still correct. If your situation:

• has changed, tell us
  • You may need to provide proof of these changes - if so, we'll tell you what documents you need to provide.
• has not changed, sign the form and return it to us by the date in your letter.

When you start paying your new rent

Once we've worked out how much rent you should be paying, we check how much it will increase or decrease by.

We’ll only change your rent when there is either:

• an increase of $5 or more per week, or
• a decrease of $1 or more per week

If your rent payment does change, then we‘ll send you a letter to tell you how much this is. Your landlord will also send you a letter, to tell you when you need to start paying the new rent amount.