When we review our rents and service charges each year, the Welsh Government says that we must make sure they are affordable for current and future customers, and that we set service charges which are reasonable, affordable and offer value for money.
We have transformed the way we work with customers who live in our homes through the delivery of our bespoke neighbourhood coaching and support offer. We aim to build relationships and trust with our customers instead of only interacting with them when there’s an issue. This allows customers to approach us before they reach a crisis point and enables us to work with them on all areas affecting tenancy sustainability including health, support, finance, education and much more.
What does my rent cover?
Rent is payable on your property for the cost of providing, managing, maintaining and improving your home. The money we raise through rent collection goes back into providing services and maintaining our homes. Your rent helps to pay for the following services:
Repairs, maintenance and buildings insurance of homes
Improving homes to make sure they reach government standards
Providing essential services in the community
Funding the neighbourhood housing, income and support services that benefit our customers including helping with neighbourhood issues and collecting rent
Building new affordable housing for rent and sale
How we spent your rent in 2024We have completed 1,196 stock condition surveys to increase our data held about our homes and aid our future decarbonisation strategy. We are pleased to have been able to continue with our repairs services and our planned programme to continue to meet the Welsh Housing Quality Standards (WHQS) and to ensure all our homes are compliant with Renting Homes (Wales) requirements.
We have built 70 new homes up to December 2024 and anticipate handing over a further 35 homes by the end of March 2025. We have a healthy pipeline of new developments and anticipate handing over approximately 350 new homes over the next 2 years. In 2024 our Housing and Support teams helped customers by collecting:
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What does my service charge cover?
Service charges are paid for the specific services you receive from us and usually relate to the shared areas in and around your home. Services provided to your home can differ depending on the type of property you live in or the area surrounding you.
The charges for each service are based on the cost of providing that service the previous year. Most service charges are eligible for housing benefit and universal credit.
Here is a summary of some of the service charges:
Communal cleaning – Our team at Hafod work hard to ensure we deliver a quality cleaning service. We carefully monitor the quality of work and monitor customer feedback to ensure the highest standard of hygiene in our properties.
Fire safety – We take our duty of care to our customers very seriously and all our properties are risk assessed, with suitable fire safety equipment being installed where appropriate, and making sure that it is regularly checked tested and maintained.
Communal electricity – Lighting is also important to keep you safe in and around your home. This charge covers the cost of electricity for streetlights in non-adopted estates and/or providing electricity for lighting in communal areas where you live.
Communal heating/hot water – You need your home and communal areas to be warm with access to hot water where appropriate. This charge is for the heating and/or hot water in the communal areas where you live.
Grounds maintenance – We recognise the need to ensure the land we own surrounding our properties is kept in good condition to make areas attractive and to contribute to your well-being. This includes the cost of cutting grass, litter picking and maintaining the outdoor communal areas where you live.
CCTV maintenance – It’s important to us that our customers feel safe in their homes, we provide and maintain CCTV equipment in the communal areas where you live to help with this.
Lift maintenance – Some of our properties have lifts for our customers’ safety and convenience. It’s important that these are serviced and maintained to keep them safe for use.
Water rates – This covers the cost of providing a water supply to your individual flat.
Skip Hire/Bulky Waste - We work hard to keep the areas surrounding your property attractive and in good condition, so we try to remove bulky waste as soon as possible, this charge covers the cost to remove large pieces of furniture and other oversized pieces of rubbish that have been left in the area. We charge this to individual customers when appropriate and wherever possible.
Communal Repairs - We maintain the communal areas where you live to keep our communities safe.
Admin fee – This contribution helps support our team at Hafod, ensuring we have the resources in place to be the ideal landlord for you; dealing with your questions and concerns quickly and making sure problems are dealt with promptly.
External Management Company – sometimes, to deliver best value, we pay an external management company to provide some of these services on our behalf.
This list is not exhaustive.
How do we calculate your rent?We are changing the way we calculate monthly rent payments, using the following calculation: Dividing the weekly rent by 7 (to give a daily figure) multiplying by 365 (days) or 366 (days in a leap year) and dividing by 12 (months) to give the monthly figure Example based on a rent weekly rent of £140: • £140 (weekly rent) / 7 (days) = £20 (daily figure) Or during a leap year • £140 (weekly rent) / 7 (days) = £20 (daily figure) If you have any queries regarding this, please contact us on 0800 024 8968 or by email at Income.Coach@hafod.org.uk. Why is my rent and service charge increasing?Rents are reviewed annually with new rents being communicated to customers by the end of January each year for introduction from April each year. Government guidelines tell us how to review your rent. Your service charges are also reviewed. Changes to service charges are related to the actual cost of delivering the services in the previous year. In October 2024, we asked customers about their rent. 66% of those who responded felt their rent was value for money and 77% felt that their rents were affordable. We don’t use this information as a reason to increase rents - this feedback is considered along with our other affordability reviews and calculations when considering any changes in rents and service charges. We value customer feedback and are always keen to hear your views. Please look out for ways to share your thoughts on our services through our monthly eNewsletter, Hafod Connect, and on our website. |
Are you providing any support to assist customers with the impact of the rising cost of living?
Hafod are available to support customers with the cost of living. In 2024 we have assisted customers with the purchase of fuel, energy, food and essential items including clothing and household goods via our “Here for You” campaign, which will continue to run in 2025.
In addition to this, we put a programme of support in place for customers which included:
“Back to School” campaign in August/September where we assisted customers with the purchase of more than £12,000 worth of uniform and other school essentials, supporting 391 children from 215 families.
Christmas Kindness campaign where we offered £10,000 worth of support for customers with food and gifts. We also distributed more than 250 toys to customers who were struggling, following a very generous donation from Hasbro. This supported 171 adults and 166 children during the Christmas period.
Support in accessing foodbank, fuel bank and household good initiatives.
Issuing food hampers and winter warm items such as hot water bottles and blankets to households requiring support.
Income maximisation work securing grants, funding and benefit payments for customers.
Publishing a cost-of-living special edition of our monthly e-newsletter; as well as continuing to provide financial well-being support via our Money Advisor and publishing articles providing advice and guidance around income maximisation.
Ensuring that the cost-of-living page on our website is fit for purpose and has the latest information in terms of the support you can access.
A continued priority for 2025, is to continue the focus upon financial inclusion and wellbeing, working with our customers and partners to find positive solutions. Our Income Coaching team are also able to assist with personal goals and aspirations around financial well-being. We are here for you, so should you require support with cost of living or your finances in general then please contact us.