Letting our homes
We’ve introduced lifetime tenancies for all new tenants and for existing tenants on fixed term tenancies. This gives people lasting security that their home will be theirs for as long as they need it, without having to renew their tenancy at the end of each term.
In April 2020 we increased our rent by 2.7% in line with the Government’s new rent standard. We set the rent for our social rented homes in line with the Government’s policy on target rents and based on the size and value of the property. Our average social rent per week is £127.31. This is the combined average for all our properties across London, Hertfordshire and the South East.
In 2011, the Government introduced a new policy on rents called Affordable Rents. All of our rents for new homes and some of our rents for existing homes let after this time have been at the Affordable Rent level, set in line with the Government’s guidance. Affordable rents are capped at 80% of the market rent. Our average affordable rent per week is £196.10. This is the combined average for all our properties across London, Hertfordshire and the South East.
Read our Research Spotlight blog and find out why affordable rents are so important here!
Our average social rent per week in London is
£131
Our average social rent per week in Hertfordshire is
£119.26
Our average affordable rent per week in London is
£213
Our average affordable rent per week in Hertfordshire is
£166.77
Satisfaction with new home re-lets
84%
against a target of 82%
Rent arrears
3.9%
beating our 4.25% target
Social rents per week
The chart below shows the average rent for our homes per week – this is for all the areas where we have homes which includes London, Hertfordshire and the South East.
Breakdown of social rent per region
Average regional social rent per week 2019/20 by property size
Affordable rents per week
The chart below shows the average affordable rent for our homes per week - this is for all the areas where we have homes which includes London, Hertfordshire and the South East.
*Please note: the average rent of a two-bed home is higher because we have more two bed homes in London, where rents are typically higher, than we have in areas outside London.
Breakdown of affordable rent per region
Average regional affordable rent per week 2019/20 by property size
Empty homes
Before new families can move into an empty home, we check the property is safe, clean and in a good state of repair.
Our target time to get this done is 28 days from one resident moving out and another moving in. For 2019/20 we took on average 33.7 days to do this.
We lost 1.26% of potential rent money due to homes being empty which is higher than last year. Some of this is unavoidable as we have to make the homes safe and in a decent condition for residents to live in. But the figure could be lower if we were more efficient in our internal processes. This is something we’re aware of and are learning from so we can make improvements.