Rent and service charges

What is rent?

Rent is the regular payment you make to your landlord to live in a

Residents are responsible for paying the rent. This applies regardless of whether you make the payment directly or indirectly from your bank account.

What is a service charge?

Service charges are payments you make for services your landlord provides.

There are 2 main types of service charges we see complaints about.

1. Variable service charges

These are charges that change based on the costs incurred by your landlord. They can alter the charge depending on costs, but it must give you notice of the variation.

2. Fixed service charges

These are charges set by the tenancy or lease and not based on the actual cost of the service provided. A fixed service charge is set by your landlord at the start of the lease or tenancy agreement.

If you’re unhappy with how your landlord handled your rent or service charges, you should let it know.

Contact your landlord and ask:

• if you need financial support or advice
• what action you can take
• for an explanation or breakdown if you are confused about your account or a charge

Your landlord should give you the information you need, such as rent statements or a cost breakdown.

If your landlord is asking you to pay a charge, it must be able to provide clear information and explain:

• its power to claim the charge under the tenancy agreement or the lease
• whether the charge is fixed or variable
• what the charge is for when your landlord uses terms such as ‘maintenance’
• the level of the cost
• when the charges were increased or decreased and why

If you are having a problem with your rent account, your landlord should clearly set out:

• what has gone wrong and when this happened
• what you can do to put things right
• where you can access financial support and advice

Your landlord should give you clear information about service charges and how to manage your rent payments when you sign your tenancy or buy your home. They should have the right documents and answer your questions clearly.

If you’re unhappy with how your landlord handled your request about rent or service charges, you can make a complaint.

In the complaint, you must clearly say why you’re raising a complaint about the landlord, and not the rent or service charge.

Tell your landlord why you think their actions were wrong.

A formal complaint might be about:

• being charged for a service you have not received
• the standard or quality of a service you pay for
• the landlord’s response to your request for information
• the time your landlord took to respond to you
• how the landlord told you about a charge or outstanding payment
• how a fee has been worked out
• a refund request

Your landlord must reply to a complaint in line with its complaint procedure. Our Complaint Handling Code sets out the timescales a landlord must respond to a complaint:

Stage 1:

• acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days of it being received
• respond, in writing, within 10 working days of the date the complaint was acknowledged

Stage 2:

• acknowledge a request to escalate the complaint within 5 working days of it being received
• respond, in writing, within 20 working days of the escalation request being acknowledged

Bring your complaint to us for investigation

You can bring a complaint to us for investigation if your landlord does not resolve your issues through their complaint procedure.

Tell us:

• what went wrong
• what your landlord should do to put things right

We need your landlord's stage 2 response before we can help. This is their final answer to your complaint.

You can refer your complaint to us within 12 months of your landlord's stage 2 response. We’re unlikely to investigate complaints referred after this deadline unless there are good reasons for the delay.

We cannot decide whether you are paying too much in rent or service charges or reasonableness of a charge.

If you disagree with your level or an increase of rent or service charge, it’s unlikely we will be able to investigate your complaint.

Help if your landlord does not reply to your complaint

We can help you get a response from your landlord if they do not follow their complaint procedure or our Complaint Handling Code.

Send us a copy of the complaint to your landlord. This helps us understand if your landlord follows its complaint procedure.

The easiest way to do this is by using our helpful online form. The form will ask you about your complaint and you can upload supporting evidence.

Online complaint form

You can also phone, email, or write to us.

Affordable rent schemes

We do not decide if your rent is affordable or how social housing providers set or increase it.

For more information about the rent standard and guidance you can go to the gov.uk website.

If you think your rent is too high

We do not decide if your rent or a rent increase is too high or reasonable.

If you rent your home from a social housing provider and think your rent is too high, you can apply to the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).

First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)

If you rent your home from your local council and think your rent is too high, you can challenge this through the courts (known as a judicial review).

Local authority rent and rent increases - Shelter England

Dealing with a rent increase - Citizens Advice

Dealing with a rent increase if you claim benefits - Shelter England

The Leasehold Advisory Service

Leaseholders or shared owners can find details of rent levels and how often they increase in your lease agreement. For advice about the terms of your lease, contact the Leasehold Advisory Service.

The Leasehold Advisory Service

Shelter

Your council or housing association must give you a legal notice if they want you to leave. Landlords call this a 'notice seeking possession’.

We do not look at complaints about a landlord issuing a ‘notice seeking possession’ or evicting you from your home.

Your landlord should support you and show you where to get help if you’re at risk of losing your home because of arrears.

More information on the Shelter website