Freehold, Leasehold, and Shared Ownership Review 2025

Universal Credit 

If you receive Universal Credit, please access your online DWP journal, select ‘confirm your housing costs’ and enter the new figures outlined in this letter. Failure to report changes may result in your housing costs being incorrectly assessed.  

Please only update your journal on or after the increase date and when you receive a ‘to-do’ notification from Universal Credit. 

Housing Benefit 

If you receive Housing Benefit you will need to inform your local authority of the change in your rent and they will send you a new award letter.  

It’s your responsibility to check that the details are correct and if there are any mistakes, contact your local authority to resolve the issue. 

Direct Debit 

If you pay by Direct Debit, you don't need to take any action. You will soon receive a letter from Allpay confirming the new amount to be collected. If you haven't received this letter by 31 March 2025, please let us know by calling 0333 200 7304 or emailing info@platformhg.com. 

Standing Order 

If you pay by Standing Order, you will need to contact your bank or building society and ask them to update your payment to the new amount starting from April 2025. 

If your home has shared areas like an entrance hall, garden, or other communal spaces, your tenancy will include a service charge. 

A service charge is the amount you pay towards the cost of providing a service, including heating, electricity, cleaning, gardening, maintenance, and door entry systems. It may also cover the cost of a specific service like a lift or emergency call system. 

If you pay service charges, your annual rent review letter will include a breakdown of these charges. 

Here are some examples of common services that may be included in your service charge: 

• Cleaning/caretaking: Cleaning and maintaining shared areas like halls, stairs, and rubbish chutes.
• Gardening and grounds maintenance: Tasks like mowing the grass, weeding and litter picking.
• Door entry system: Costs for maintaining and repairing the entry phone systems in buildings.
• Management/Admin fee: A flat fee to cover staff costs and overheads for preparing service charge estimates and accounts.
• Lighting: Costs for lighting in shared communal areas, including replacing lightbulbs.
• Lifts: Maintenance and repairs for lifts in the building.
• Concierge: Costs for staff providing support and services in the building. 

If you live in one of our retirement villages/schemes or supported scheme, your service charge may include costs for staff, such as Retirement Housing Officers, Wellbeing Advisors, Activity Co-ordinators, and Youth Development Coaches, or for maintaining communal areas like laundry rooms, and shared lounges. 

If we deliver a service that is shared by several customers, your service charge is calculated by dividing the total cost between everyone who uses or benefits from it. 

A service charge is based on what it actually costs us to provide the service to you. Costs can go up or down depending on inflation and market conditions, and we work hard to get the best value for money from our contractors and manage services efficiently.  

Each year we review service charges to make sure you only pay for the services you receive and that each service charge is accurate and fair. 

If you pay for any service charges, they are listed in the Service Charge section of your annual rent review letter. 
 

Housing Benefit and Universal Credit are both designed to assist people with housing costs, but the eligibility for services under these benefits can vary depending on your personal situation, the type of housing you live in, and your specific lease.  

For example, if your home has two bedrooms, your service charge could be higher than someone with one bedroom and Universal Credit doesn’t cover the cost of window cleaning for ground floor properties. 

Which service charges are eligible, or ineligible is determined by your local authority (for Housing Benefit) or Department of Work and Pensions (for Universal Credit). 

If you claim Housing Benefit or Universal Credit some service charges are covered within your Housing Benefit or Universal Credit payment. 

Ineligible service charges are not covered by Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, so you need to pay for these.  

Which service charges are eligible or ineligible is determined by your local authority (for Housing Benefit) or Department of Work and Pensions (for Universal Credit). 

Don’t worry if the way we describe some of your service charges has changed. Following customer feedback, we’ve reviewed and updated the headers and descriptions to make it easier for you to understand what you’re paying for. We’ve also added a number of new service charge categories for better clarity. 

Linked below is a list of services that outlines all service charge headings, along with easy read descriptions. 

Click here to download the table

If you have any queries or concerns about any of the services you receive, please call our Customer Hub on 0333 200 7304 or email info@platformhg.com. 

Whether we provide your services or employ contractors to deliver them on our behalf, we always aim to deliver the very best that we can.  

If you have any queries or concerns about any of the services you receive, please call our Customer Hub on 0333 200 7304 or email info@platformhg.com.