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Rents & Benefits

Rents & charges

Wansbeck Homes provides quality social rented housing that is affordable to a range of income groups, which includes people on modest incomes. We will work to ensure that dependence on housing benefit is minimised.

Wansbeck Homes will collect a number of charges along with the weekly rent for the convenience of tenants, this includes:

• Water charges – almost all tenants.
• Heating charges – for tenants with communal heating systems.
  

Rents will be set using a Government formula that will see all rents move to target rents by 2012.  This will meant that all social housing tenants, irrespective of their landlord, will pay similar rents for similar properties in the area in which they live.

Wansbeck Homes will charge for a small range of services. These are known as service charges these will cover things like:

• Heating
• Warden services
• Community alarms.
  

Wansbeck Homes may introduce new services in future as a result of requests or after consultation with tenants; for which service charges may be payable.  If new services are to be introduced we will give at least one months'  notice of the services and the estimated cost that would be charged to the affected tenants.

How to Pay

We offer a range of ways to pay your rent. 

If you are paying in person you will need to present your allpay payment card at any Wansbeck Homes Area Housing Office, Payzone or PayPoint outlet, or Post Office. Please note that PayPoint outlets will only take cash payments. The Post Office will accept cash, debit cards and cheques, cheques should be made payable Post Office Ltd.

You can pay on line using your debit card, by visiting to www.allpay.net and following the online instructions or by telephoning 0844 557 8321.  In addition to your rent reference number have your debit card details ready and the amount you need to pay.

You may also post your payment to Wansbeck Homes’ main office at Bedlington.  If you do so do not send cash please make cheques and postal orders payable to Wansbeck Homes Ltd. 

To save standing in queues or paying for postage you can pay by direct debit or standing order from your bank.
If you wish to pay by either of these options please contact our Customer Services Team on 0844 800 3 800 who will handle your request.

 

Having Problems Paying

We understand that people may have money trouble from time to time.  At such times we will offer help and provide advice.

If you cannot pay the full amount you owe please tell us straight away, if possible we will make an arrangement for you to pay it off gradually.  This would mean that you would pay an extra amount with your normal rent over a period of time until you have paid off what you owe.

Please read our Rents Service Standard here.

Benefits

If you are on a low income or receive state benefits you may be entitled to Housing Benefit.

To apply for Housing Benefit you will need to complete an application form. You will need to give details about yourself and your household, including proof of identity and national insurance numbers and proof of income and savings, such as wage slips, pension or benefit books, bank books etc.

If you think you may be entitled to Housing Benefit you should make a claim as soon as possible.  Delay could mean you lose money. If you are eligible, the benefit will be paid either to you or to Wansbeck Homes every month. Some of the charges you have to pay are not covered by Housing Benefit and you will still responsible for paying your weekly water rates and any other services such as heating and warden alarm service.

If there are any changes in your circumstances, for example if someone moves in or out of your home you must advise the housing benefit section as this may affect the amount of benefit you are entitled to.

Housing Benefit forms are available from your Area Housing Office or Council Infopoint. If you have difficulty in completing the form, help is available.  Wansbeck Homes’ staff can help you complete your form, check and verify your details and pass on your form to the Housing Benefit section of the Council. Please note that all households making a claim for Housing Benefit will also be assessed for Council Tax Benefit.

If you rent your home, or plan to rent, you can use Northumberland County Councils Benefit Calculator to find out how much rent you should pay, and how much housing benefit and council tax benefit you can get.

Click to use the Northumberland County Councils Benefit Calculator.

Debt Advice

When people are having money problems it is likely to affect more than just the ability to pay their rent. As money troubles can quickly get out of control people are advised to get debt advice from independent agencies such as Citizens’ Advice Bureau (Tel: 01670 522008) and Debt Advice Within Northumberland (DAWN) (Tel: 0845 456 6815).

To take full advantage of debt advice services people have to be prepared to disclose full income and expenditure details.

Income Maximisation

We encourage people to see if they are entitled to other sources of benefit income such as tax credits, pension credits and Carers’ Allowance. Citizens’ Advice Bureau and other advice centres can give information. Applications for these benefits can be made to either the Department of Work and Pensions or HM Revenues and Customs.

Request Assistance With Rent

Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) were introduced in July 2001 to replace the exceptional hardship and exceptional circumstances payments. They are not payments of benefit and are paid on top of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and are an independent scheme managed by the Council.

Discretionary housing payments are available to people who:

• Are entitled to Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit (or both); and
• Appear to the council to need some more help with their housing costs (rent and Council Tax).

If you want to claim a DHP, ask for a form from the Council. You must complete and return a completed form to the Council.

Please note that as a DHP is discretionary, you must not assume that the Council will give it to you.

Benefit Fraud

Wansbeck Homes takes benefit fraud very seriously and works closely with the Council to provide information on fraudulent claims. We have a duty to pass on any information we obtain directly to the Council if we suspect fraud.

Data Protection

Wansbeck Homes takes data protection very seriously. When we are discussing rents we may be unable to divulge details to third parties without permission and we will not always be able to use e-mails for example to send sensitive information relating to incomes and rents. For a full copy of our policy on data protection  please go to the 'About Us' section.

Feedback

Wansbeck Homes is committed to ensuring that the promises made in its service standards are met.  This means that we sometimes contact customers by telephone to ask them questions about how their request was dealt with.