Rent increases
From 6 April 2026, the cost of renting a home from us will increase by 4.8%, unless you have a shared ownership tenancy, and the increase will be based on the terms in your lease agreement.
If you are an Ongo tenant, you will receive a letter by the end of February, confirming the increase that applies to you and your home.
Since 2016, CPI (the Consumer Price Index inflation measure) has risen by 39% to the end of November 2025, however rents have not kept that pace, increasing by 20.7%. This means the cost of running our organisation and delivering core services has increased considerably. We must generate enough income to remain viable and continue to operate.
We will be looking to work more efficiently to reduce our costs and generate further income to balance this and bridge the gap between the rent increase and level of inflation.
We completely understand and appreciate that the cost of living is affecting you personally too. We’re seeing increased costs in most areas of our lives, and we know this is extremely difficult to manage. We do have lots of support available for this, from grants to financial support and budgeting advice.
The information below explains more on why we have had to increase the cost of rent:
Our running costs have increased, meaning to be able to continue to operate and offer all of our services – including repairs & maintenance and housing management, we need more income.
Materials have also increased in cost, which has again had a knock on effect to us and means to be able to continue to be able to offer you our services.
We’re continuing to invest more than ever on safety and compliance to ensure you feel safe and secure in your home.
With this increase, we still remain more affordable than privately renting a home. On average it costs around £190 per week (calculated over 48 weeks) for a three-bedroom, private rent home in the Scunthorpe area. By comparison our 26/27 rent would amount to £124.21 for a social rent home (excluding service charges) and £158 for a three-bedroom affordable home, making our options £68 (social) and £35 (affordable) per week cheaper than the private sector.
The ‘rent standard’ set by the government came into action from 1 April 2025, which meant housing associations like ourselves can increase our rents by up to CPI (the Consumer Price Index inflation measure) plus 1%. CPI at September 2025 was 3.8%, meaning that we are able to increase our rents to 4.8% in April.
This decision was made after consulting with Community Voice (our tenant panel) and presenting their feedback to our Board.
Everyone will receive a letter in the post by the end of February, with details about the change in rent costs and any additional service charges for the year ahead.
If you have any questions, please check out the Q&A’s below and if you can’t find what you’re looking for, please get in touch with us.
Q&A’s
Inflation has risen significantly over the years, and our rents haven’t kept up with those rising costs. Increasing rent means we stay financially sustainable so that we can continue looking after our tenants, homes and providing the quality services you expect.
If you’re struggling with your rent payments, get in touch with us and we can help. We have a specially trained, friendly and understanding team to offer guidance and advice. We can help to access benefits and grants you may be eligible for, help with budgeting, debt and money advice, and put you in touch with support you may need.
More information on this can be found here: www.ongo.co.uk/help-with-finances.
Or, you may prefer to take some independent advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau (0800 144 8848, www.citizensadvice.org.uk) or National Debtline (0808 808 4000, www.nationaldebtline.org)
You will need to update your DWP journal with the new amount on or immediately after 6 April 2026. If you don’t do this, you may not get all the housing element you are entitled to. This is something that can only be done by you. It’s important that you don’t do this before 6 April 2026 as we are unable to verify the details until then and you would have to re-submit the information again.
For anyone finding themselves struggling with the cost of living and worried about money or debts, we are here to help. We have a list of support available to look at maximising your income, ensuring that you have access to all the benefits you are entitled to, free and confidential debt support just to name a few.
We are legally obliged to notify all tenants of the changes to their rent charges. It will show you all the charges for your property and what the amount currently is and what it will change to from 6 April 2026.
No, we will notify the relevant Benefits Team of your rent and service charges for the new financial year. They will re-calculate your claim and you will receive a letter directly from them to advise you of your new entitlement.
If you have a change in your circumstances you must inform the Benefit Section immediately to avoid any overpayments of Housing Benefit.
All tenants are issued with a rent payment card which can be used to make payments at any Post Office or PayPoint outlet across the country. You can order a replacement card through the “My Rent” section on My Home. There are also many other ways you can pay your rent – please see the details on your rent notification letter.
You can pay your rent to us via debit or credit card using our automated telephone payment service. To use this service, just follow these steps:
- You will need you AllPay payment card reference number which is on your rent notification letter
- Call us on 01724 279900
- Press 1 to make a payment and follow the instructions.
You don’t need to do anything, we will be re-calculating your Direct Debit over the next few weeks. If we need to change your payments you will receive a letter from Allpay later in March to confirm your new payments.
You will need to change the amount you pay with your bank directly, we are unable to make these changes for you.
If you would prefer for us to make the changes to your payments and notify you, you will need to change your payment method to Direct Debit. Further details are shown on your rent notification letter.
The details on the letter are directly from our database. If the details are wrong or there are any spelling errors, please contact us so we can look into this and get it resolved for you.
Communal electricity service charges are calculated based on the cost Ongo must pay for electricity, in order to recover the cost of electricity used and no more. Despite going through a competitive tender process to find the cheapest electricity contract, the global energy crisis means that the price that Ongo now pays for electricity is significantly higher than in previous years. We therefore must increase communal electricity service charges to reflect these increases in costs. For some properties, the cost of electricity has risen by so much that we have taken the decision to cap the increase in service charge to £5 per week in order to limit the impact on those tenants most affected.
The decision has been made to increase garage rents by 4.8% which is CPI + 1% from 6 April 2026. The new weekly garage rates will be £9.27 for tenants and £11.12 (£9.27 + VAT) for private tenants. You will receive a notification letter in March to confirm this.
It was decided back in early 2020 to no longer charge rent for the store sheds from April 2020. This is still in place and there will be no charge from April 2026 either.
Service Charges Q&A
Service charges reflect the actual cost of providing services such as:
• Cleaning
• Wellbeing services
• Electricity for communal areas
• Grounds maintenance
• Water and sewerage
• Lifts, door entry, alarms.
This year, contractor costs, energy tariffs and utility charges have increased. In the past, we were sometimes able to limit increases to service charges. However, the rules around how service charges must be calculated have tightened, and we now need to ensure they accurately reflect the real cost of providing services. This means we’re no longer able to cap charges in the way we previously could, as doing so would not meet current compliance requirements.
No – service charges are separate and based on actual cost, not the CPI+1% rent formula.
Service charges differ between schemes because each building has different:
- Layout and equipment
- Communal areas
- Number of residents
- Support requirements
- Grounds size and maintenance needs.
Charges reflect building‑specific actual costs.
At the same time as rent, April each year.
No. We do not make a profit on service charges, they must reflect actual expenditure only.
Communal water and sewerage cost Increases are mainly due to:
• Higher water and wastewater tariffs
• More usage in some buildings
• Communal facilities such as laundries, washing machines, shared taps and appliances.
Grounds maintenance costs have risen due to:
- Increased contractor pricing
- Higher waste disposal costs, especially for Cut and Collect areas.
Communal electricity covers shared systems such as:
• Lighting in corridors and stairwells
• Lifts
• Door entry systems
• Fire alarms
• Laundry equipment
• Emergency lighting
• Mobility scooter storage areas.
These are used by everyone living in the building.
We calculate charges based on:
• Actual costs from previous years
• Known contract prices
• Expected changes in utilities and inflation.
Charges vary by building and tenancy type.
Sheltered schemes include additional services, such as:
• Wellbeing Officer support
• Communal lounges
• Door entry systems
• Specialist compliance requirements.
These services have higher staffing, energy and maintenance costs, which have increased nationally.
Sheltered lounge costs cover things like:
- Heating and lighting
- Cleaning
- Furniture and décor
- Equipment and appliances
- Repairs and maintenance.
Energy costs have risen significantly.
If you think you are going to struggle with the increase, please contact us.
We can help with things like:
- Payment plans
- Budgeting support
- Benefits claims and advice
- Hardship support
- Preventing arrears
- Income advice
- Referrals to our dedicated Citizen’s Advice worker.
You may be able to get help to pay your service charges through:
• Housing Benefit (if eligible)
• Universal Credit housing element.
Some service charges are eligible for benefit support; others are not. Your rent letter will show which charges are eligible.
Please contact us if you need some support.
