Principles And Procedures For Fixing Rent And Other Charges

With the Introduction of Housing (NI) 1992 Order, registered Housing Associations are no longer able to set their rents by the same method for all tenants. The Association sets rents in three different ways for different circumstances:



1. For all tenancies commenced before 16 September 1992, Rents are set by the Department fr Social Development.

Each Property is Awarded a number of points according to the size, type and amenities such as central heating, etc. In April each year the value of the rent point is reviewed by the DSD and the rent is adjusted accordingly.


2. Dwellings that have been built partly with government grants and partly with loans raised by the Association.

These are termed "mixed funded" schemes and the Association sets its own rents for them. Because it has to cover extra costs, the rent will be higher than that charged under the points schem above. The rent is broken down into the collowing parts:


   Loan Repayment
   Management Costs
   Response/Cyclic Maintenance Costs
   Major Repairs Costs
   Voids/Bad Debt Costs


The Association seeks to kepp its rent within the reach of those on low income and there must be a minium of 12 months between rent increases. In deciding how much should be paid for one house when Compared with another, the Association considers size and amenities as defined by the points scheme.


3. Relets of properties after 16 September 1992.

The Association now sets the rent on re-let property. The policy agreed by the committee of management is to try to maintain rental charges in lin with other similar property in the scheme. Regulations requiring that rents can be increased only after 12 months of the tenancy has elapsed, to allow the Association to review all rents on 1 April each year, it is sometimes necessary to project re-let rents for as much as 1 year and 11 months in advance. In doing so, the aim of the Association is to keep all rents for similar property in the same development at the same level.