RENT REVIEW 2024
It’s that time of the year again: As you know once a year EACH Housing (EHL) conducts a review of your income to assess your eligibility for a Rental Rebate.
Everyone in Community Housing must pay a rental amount. It may be Market Rent OR you may be eligible for a Rental Rebate which is an amount lower than market rent and is based on your household income. (This includes everyone in the home over the age of 18)
It will be necessary for you to complete the attached Application for Rental Rebate, sign the acknowledgement and declaration, and return to EACH Housing at 20 Melbourne Street, Ringwood or email Housing@each.com.au before Thursday 24th October 2024
If you are employed in full-time, part-time, or casual work, you will also need to include 13 weeks of consecutive pay slips, as this is required to determine your weekly rental.
If you have not signed a Centrelink Consent Form with EHL, you will also need to provide a copy of your Centrelink Income Statement. This can be obtained by attending a Centrelink Office, phoning Centrelink, or logging on to the Centrelink website.
EACH Housing charges an Income-based rent, and the following may assist in explaining how rent is calculated.
To keep your rent affordable, the amount you pay each fortnight is based on a percentage of your household income.
- If you earn less, you’ll pay less towards rent.
- If you earn more, you’ll pay more towards rent.
- However, if your income changes, the percentage we take from it will stay the same.
How your rent works
- ‘Market rent’ is how much your home would rent for in the private market
- An independent valuer works out the market rent based on similar homes in the same area
- To see if you are eligible for a discount to market rent, (rent subsidy) we check your household income
- If you are eligible, we calculate the amount you pay based on:
- Your household income, and
- The amount of discount from market rent (rent subsidy) you are eligible for
How we work out the amount you pay
- We look at how much income household members over 18 years old receive.
- Then we calculate the amount you pay each fortnight based on a percentage of that income. EHL charge between 25% and 30% of income, depending the on the housing program.
There are certain types of income that don’t contribute to your rent, like an AusStudy loan or the Baby Bonus. We follow the DFFH guidelines to make sure we’re only assessing the right types of income when calculating the amount you pay. The following provides an example of how rent is calculated based at e.g., 25% of income.
How the amount you pay could change
During regular rent reviews
We review your rent regularly to make sure the amount you pay is still a good fit for your income.
- Your rent will be reviewed every twelve months and or at other times, such as when your income changes.
- We’ll let you know in writing before your next rent review happens
We go over your income during rent review to make sure your rent stays affordable. While the amount you pay in rent might change, we’ll make sure you’re never paying more than 75% of what your home would rent for in the private market (market rent).
Things we need you to tell us
Please remember to tell us if things change at home. We need to know [within 10 business days] if:
- Your income changes: Getting or stopping a job or getting more or less money from Centrelink.
- Your household changes: Like someone moving in or out. This could affect your household income, or the discount to market rent you’re eligible for.
- You’re experiencing hardship: Things in your life are impacting your ability to pay rent; talk to us to see what options are available.
More information about market rent
‘Market rent’ is how much your home would rent for in the private market. You can find the initial market rent of your home in your residential rental agreement.
- Market rent is reviewed annually
- If the market rent for your home changes because of the review, we will write to let you know
- The market rent can change without impacting the income-based rent that you pay
If any change does impact the amount you are required to pay, we will outline it clearly in our communications with you.
Steps to take if you still have questions
It’s important to us that you understand how your rent works and feel confident that it reflects your circumstances. If you still have questions, you can:
- Ask us to explain your rent in more detail.
- Ask our friendly EACH Housing staff to calculate your rent again, and step you through the process.