We understand that some residents will be experiencing increased financial pressure over the coming months.
Hightown is here to help. If you are concerned about paying your bills or have any other concerns, we have specialist teams on standby to provide support. If you would like to speak to someone, please contact us and we can talk through any issues. To get in touch please call the Income Recovery Team on 01442 292280. You can also request a call back by filling out the call back form on our website.
You can also read about further support available on our website.
If you are in Universal Credit, you will need to log into your UC journal to 'Confirm your housing costs'. You can find this in your to-do section within your online account.
You MUST complete the 'Confirm your housing costs' to-do, on Monday 7 April 2025 (not before).
If your rent is CHARGED monthly you must confirm your housing costs on Tuesday 1 April 2025. Please note this is for monthly charges only. If you pay your rent monthly by choice, your date remains Monday 7 April.
You will need to complete the to-do by the end of your current assessment period, to ensure you get the correct housing payment. A delay could result in an underpayment and you will have to pay any shortfall.
If you are on Housing Benefit, you must inform the Local Authority that awards your Housing Benefit of the change in rent before 01/04/2025 to ensure you get the correct housing payment. A delay could result in an underpayment and you will have to pay any shortfall.
- Login into your UC account
- Go to "Report a Change"
- Go to "Where you Live and what it Costs"
- Press "Change"
- Press "I've Moved"
- Enter your new Postcode
- Choose your address from the drop-down list. If not there, go back and enter your address manually.
- Enter the date of move as the start date of your Tenancy
- Do you have Housing Costs? Press "Yes"
- Choose "Council/Housing Association" from type of accommodation.
- Enter Hightown's details: Hightown Housing Association, Maylands Avenue, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 4XH, 01442 292 300.
- Enter number of bedrooms.
- Is anyone else named on the agreement? Answer "Yes" if it’s a joint tenancy. Answer "No" if you are the only tenant. Do not include children in this number.
- How much is your Rent? Enter the amount.
- Choose "Weekly" as the frequency of rent.
- Do you have any Rent Free Weeks? Press "No.
- Do you have any eligible Service Charges? This is most likely "No", but if you do please enter "Yes" and insert any charges that are NOT related to personal items such as personal water, electricity or gas.
- Are you named on the Council Tax Bill? Choose "Yes"
- Have you claimed Council Tax Reduction? If you have, choose "Yes" but if not choose "No, but I will apply". You will then need to contact the Local Authority to claim any support for Council Tax.
- Check your details thoroughly and then complete the application.
We will then get a notification to approve your rent. You may be asked to also approve this in your To-Do list so please make sure you keep an eye on this.
If you have any problems please contact UC directly ask them to walkthrough the above steps with you.
Our rents are set by government legislation, called The Rent Standard. In April 2020, the Rent Standard changed to allow Hightown to increase rents every 12 months by 1% plus the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The Government expects us to follow this specific formula to calculate and set our rents. The relevant CPI measure is taken from September the previous year, and in September 2024 CPI was 1.7%. This is why your rent will go up by 2.7% from April (1% plus 1.7% CPI).
The majority of your rent goes towards paying for the management and maintenance of your home.
Other significant areas of expenditure include the funding of longer-term improvements in homes and neighbourhoods, the development of new homes, and significant investment in improving the fire safety of some of our homes and improving energy efficiency.
Hightown is a not for profit organisation and any surplus made is reinvested into our core objectives of providing homes and supporting our residents.
Due to rising inflation and supply chain issues, Hightown, like many other landlords is facing higher costs such as an increase in the costs of materials and parts to maintain our buildings. The costs of building much needed new homes is also increasing.
Hightown will automatically amend your direct debit in line with the annual rent increase.
However, if you are in receipt of Housing Benefit which is paid directly onto your rent account, Hightown cannot automatically amending your direct debit. Therefore we advise you to contact us to amend your direct debit amount once you have been notified of your new housing benefit award by your Local Authority.
If you have not informed your Local Authority of the new rent charges, please ensure you do this before 1 April 2025 or you may not receive your full entitlement.
To amend your direct debit or to discuss your rent account, please contact us on 01442 292280.
If you pay your rent by Standing Order, you will need to update the amount with your bank or building society.
A Standing Order is an agreement between you and your bank to pay a 3rd party (Hightown) and we are not able to amend these for you.
Service charges are the amounts paid by tenants for communal services in your block and/or on the estate, for example cleaning and grounds maintenance.
If you live in an Affordable Rent home, any service charges are included in the overall rent figure. If you live in a Social Rent home, the service charges are shown on your rent increase notification letter as separate from the rent figure.
Service Charges are calculated by taking into consideration the actual expenditure on services over the last two and a half financial years, contract costs, any expected costs that we have been notified of, and also takes Retail Price Index inflation into account. Every effort is made to get the budgets as accurate as possible but costs can vary significantly from year to year depending on expenditure.
This is for communal services such as heating and lighting in corridors. You need to continue to pay your own supplier for your electricity and water in your home as well as service charges.
