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Your Rent

Find information here about how to pay your rent, and how we can help if you're having difficulty.

What's on this page

Your rent

Ways to pay

Difficulty paying rent?

Arrears

FAQ

Your rent

Your rent pays for the services you receive from us, including the maintenance and management of your home. We want to make paying your rent as easy as possible and this part of the website details all the different ways you can pay along with where to get help if you are finding it difficult to pay.   You should pay your rent weekly or monthly in advance i.e. before the period your rent payment is covering. If you do not pay your rent on time, you could fall into arrears which means that you are behind with your rent payments and owe SBHA money.

There are different ways you can pay your rent. The simplest way is to do it through a regular Direct Debit or pay online through Allpay.

Housing Benefit and Universal Credit

If you receive Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, it is your responsibility to make sure this is paid into your rent account. You can ask the Council to pay this direct to SBHA.

Ways to pay

Allpay
The first time you use Allpay you’ll need to register your account and use your 19 digit payment reference number that is on your rent statement and payment card. Once you’ve registered, you’ll just need to log in to make future payments.

Direct Debit
We will take the rent straight from your bank account using a Direct Debit so you don’t have to worry about remembering to pay. It’s easy, convenient, doesn’t cost you anything and we do all the work. Call our Team on 0800 0193 222.

Click on the image to pay your rent with allpay.net.

Other ways to pay

Online banking - set up a regular payment

Over the phone

Standing order

You can set up a Standing Order to tell your bank to pay us automatically from your account each month. If the rent changes, you need to tell your bank to change the amount of the standing order. You will need to quote your 7-digit payment reference (beginning with a 6) as the banking reference so we know to allocate the payment to your account and SBHA’s bank details. Contact our Team on 0800 0193 222 if you do not have that information.

In person

At the Post Office

By post

At a Paypoint outlet

Changing your method of payment

If you wish to change the way you pay your rent, please call us on 0800 0193 222.

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Difficulty paying rent?

If you’re behind with your rent or worried about your rent payments, you should contact us immediately. We can help. Call us on 0800 0193 222.

If you are on a low income, you may be entitled to Housing Benefit to help pay your rent. Our specially trained Welfare Benefits Officer, Debbie Mzee, can provide you with free and impartial advice on a range of benefits you may be entitled to, including Housing Benefit. Debbie will help you claim for these benefits, assist you to fill in forms and help you understand benefit decisions. Call 0800 0193 222 or email enquiries@sbha.org.uk to request an appointment.

Our experienced Financial Support Worker, Barry Wood, will work with you on money matters, helping you with budgeting and dealing with debt to avoid serious financial problems.

To find out more about this service contact Barry Wood on 0800 0193 222.

We also have a dedicated Warm and Well Team who help Tenants keep their homes affordably warm by:

Helping you to get the best from your heating system by ensuring that that it’s set up to be used in the most efficient way
Helping you to clear fuel bill arrears
If you’re on a prepayment meter and are struggling to top-up, we can apply on your behalf for fuel bank vouchers
Advising on insulation
We can also help you to heat your home more affordably

Our Here to Help page has more information about the range of support available.

Arrears

If you're behind on your rent you’ll be in ‘arrears’. This means you owe rent to your landlord. If you’re behind with your rent or worried about your rent payments, you should contact us immediately. If you are a current Tenant, we can help. Call us on 0800 0193 222. We have lots of ways we can support you – find out more.

You should deal with arrears as quickly as you can.

Former Tenants

If you are a former Tenant and still owe us money you should call us on 0800 0193 222.

Our Team can discuss with you how to pay off your arrears and help agree a payment . They can discuss payment methods or set up a Direct Debit so that you can make regular payments to clear your arrears.

If you do not put in place a payment plan, we may pass your debt to a debt collection agency so please contact us to arrange a repayment plan as soon as possible.

Frequently asked questions

How do you set rents and service charges?

Rents are SBHA’s main source of income. We aim to set rent levels and service charges that enable us to maintain and invest in our properties and protect the sustainability of the organisation, but also ensure that our rents remain affordable and are broadly comparable with other social housing landlords. You will find the full detail of our policy here – Rent and Service Charge Policy.

SBHA reviews rents annually and asks for Tenant’s views. Every Tenant is sent a newsletter with the consultation survey included and the full consultation is also available via SBHA’s website. The survey can be completed online (by scanning a QR code) or on the paper copy. We also phone a representative sample of Tenants to complete the survey and get your views that way.

SBHA’s Board considers the options and Tenant’s views before approving the final change. We then issue a letter to Tenants in March confirming what your rent will be in the upcoming year. Rent increases take effect from the first Monday in April each year.

Why does my rent change each year?

How is my rent calculated?

In 2022/2023 we carried out a rent restructure exercise to ensure that our rents are calculated on a fair and reasonable basis. Following consultation with tenants, we implemented a new rent structure which is being phased in from 1st April 2024, to ensure that no one faces a large one-off increase in rent. The capped amount at which rents are either increased or decreased towards the target rent will be set each year, when consideration of the normal annual rent increase is undertaken.

Your rent is based on four different criteria:

Property size (number of bedrooms)
Property type (.e.g house, flat, 4-in-a-block, bedsit, amenity)
New build
Amenity scheme

Properties are evaluated by each of these criteria and the appropriate rent charge calculated.

Why do I have to pay service charges as well as rent?

Some properties (e.g. flats) benefit from additional services provided by SBHA - the main ones are window cleaning and communal stair cleaning. The service charge is based on the full cost of providing these services divided by the number of properties benefiting from the service across SBHA. If you live in an amenity property that has a shared communal area, you will also pay a service charge for the costs of cleaning that communal area.

Rent and Service Charge Policy

How do I let the council or Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) know about changes to my rent?

If you’re claiming Housing Benefit, you’ll need to contact your local Housing Benefit office to tell them about changes to your rent.

They’ll work out how much of your new rent they’ll pay. If you don’t, your new benefit may be delayed, and your rent could go into debt.

If you receive help for housing costs from Universal Credit (UC) you must let the DWP know about your rent change on or after the date of your rent increase. You can do this through your journal and the DWP will verify the change with us.

Find out about Discretionary Housing Payment on Scottish Borders Council's website.

Visit the Department for Work and Pensions website.