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Council rents in Sheffield - why do they differ

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I am moving flats next week from Firshill to Scraithwood, not very far away in distance and yet the rent at Scraithwood is £20 per week more.  This includes a standard heating charge but you still have pay for the amount of heating you use. I guess I won't use much as the flats there are much warmer than where I live now but how come the rent differs so much when the areas are close by each other?

 

Any views on this?

Edited by Retro Queen

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https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/content/dam/sheffield/docs/housing/council-housing/How We Calculate Your Rent (Feb18)2.pdf

 

If the amount of bedrooms is the same then it's either because your last property hadn't had the rent adjusted since before 2014, or the property you are moving to would be worth more if valued. Or both.

 

Some info about district heating here: 

 

https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/home/housing/district-heating-improvement

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I am fuming with the Council and am just wondering if anyone else is experiencing this.

 

I moved into my  flat about three weeks  ago and signed up for the tenancy with the rent set. I now receive a letter from the Council and they have put my direct debit up by £8.00 per month. It can't be the annual rent rise as that happened in early April when I lived at my other place which was also a Council flat.

 

They have given me no reason as to why they have done this and I now have to wait until Monday to ring them.

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Check the weeks versus months before you kick off, maybe just a misunderstanding.

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I've checked the letter and it seems clear to me that they've put it up, weekly and monthly figures given.

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Update. I've just been looking through all my papers to do with the housing and I've now worked it out, the extra on my rent is the Council insurance I have. They didn't take it out on my first direct debit. So need to ring them and kick off after all :)

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the council are clueless with rent 

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11 hours ago, Retro Queen said:

Update. I've just been looking through all my papers to do with the housing and I've now worked it out, the extra on my rent is the Council insurance I have. They didn't take it out on my first direct debit. So need to ring them and kick off after all :)

There you go, all's well that ends well.🙂

Edited by Bash Street

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On 22/06/2019 at 02:24, ormester said:

the council are clueless with rent 

Really? When I was a tenant, I found it very easy to work out the rent statements and if I was in arrears. 

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Try movi g to a new property signed up for direct debit that was due to go out every two weeks on the wife's pay day so didn't go go out so left it a few days and it still hadn't gone I was Informed it hadn't even been set up  at all 

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Finally I have find out why my rent is more than others on this estate and why I am paying the same as my neighbour when I have a one bedroomed flat and she has a two bedroomed one.

 

I spoke to someone from the Council today on the phone who was very helpful and gave me all the details.

 

It seems its because the person who lived here before me owned the flat and sold it back to the Council. They had to do a lot of upgrades and have to put the rent up to an affordable rent in this case and not a social rent.

 

At least I understand now why my rent is more but I don't see really why someone owning it before makes it my problem.

 

Has anyone else come across this?

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On 05/08/2019 at 21:42, Retro Queen said:

It seems its because the person who lived here before me owned the flat and sold it back to the Council. They had to do a lot of upgrades and have to put the rent up to an affordable rent in this case and not a social rent.

This highlights the daftness of the right to buy scheme. Council owns flat worth £50k. Sell it to tenant for £25k. Buy it back a few years later at £50k. Spend 10k doing it up. All that public money going into a private individuals pocket.  And you have to pay a higher rent to help cover the loss.

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