Your Rent
The District of Easington Council owns the housing stock and sets a rent for each property. Your rent must be paid weekly or monthly in advance.
Income Management Service Standards
Income Management Service Standards
We take a preventative approach to managing arrears by working with tenant’s that are experiencing difficulties in paying their rent and reaching a solution that is acceptable to both parties.
We aim to:
- Notify you in writing each year of any increase in rent or service charges.
- Provide quarterly rent statements.
- Provide a new or replacement payment card within 10 working days of it being requested.
- Provide help and assistance in completing Housing Benefit forms.
- Offer advice on entitlements to welfare and housing benefits or refer you to an appropriate organisation for specialist advice.
- Give advanced warning before taking legal action - this would involve sending letters and home visits.
- Explain any legal action we take and what will happen if we have to go to court.
Note:
We offer a wide range of payments as follows:
- By direct debit
- By standing order
- By post or pay cash at the District of Easington Council cash office – Seaside Lane
- At the post office using an ‘Allpay’ swipe card
- At local shops using ‘Pay Point’, ‘Pay Zone’ or ‘e-pay’
- On the internet
- By telephone
How the Council sets the level of rent
The Government requires that rents charged by Social Landlords are fair and affordable. It believes that rent should:
- Remain affordable in the future
- Generally be below those charged by private landlords
- Linked to the size, location and condition of the home
Following consultation with Councils, Housing Associations, Tenant groups and other interested parties, the Government produced a formula for setting rents.
The formula will result in rents that are based on the value of the property, the number of bedrooms in the property and local earnings.
30 per cent of the formula rent calculation is based on relative property values, 70 per cent of the calculation is based on relative earnings in County Durham compared to national earnings with a weighting to take into account the number of bedrooms in each property.
- More about council rent setting (external link - opens a new window)
Ways to Pay Your Rent
There are a number of ways in which council tenants can pay their rent. We will help tenants to claim any available assistance with paying their rent.
Rent Arrears
If your rent account falls into arrears we will make agreements to reduce the arrears.
However, we do take legal action if tenants persistently fail to pay their rent.