From Monday, 6 April, your rent will increase by 4.8 per cent.
The average rent for a council home in the borough will increase from £133.79 to £140.21 per week – a weekly increase of £6.42.
The new average rent of £140.21 a week will still be low compared to similar areas of the country.
Overall rent levels remain below inflation over the last decade.
Every year, we must set the level of rent that tenants pay, to ensure this increases with cost inflation, increased interest rates, and government rents policy and will cover the cost of maintaining and improving your homes and neighbourhoods and providing your housing service.
The increase to rents sets a balanced budget in our Housing Revenue Account (HRA). This is a ring-fenced pot of money that is used solely for our own tenants. All rent and service charge income goes into it, and all expenditure (repairs, management, and maintenance) comes out of it. 79 per cent of the money in the HRA is generated from rents.
Without increasing rents and service charges, we would fall into budget deficit (raising less money than we are spending) and will not be able to manage and maintain our existing homes or invest in new stock.
Current government policy allows us to make rent increases calculated by combining a ‘cost of living’ increase, which is set using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation, plus an additional 1 per cent.
CPI is a figure used to measure inflation. It measures the change in prices for everyday goods and services, like groceries, fuel, and clothing across the UK. CPI changes each month, so we used the CPI for September 2025 to calculate rent increases for this financial year, starting April 2026. At this point, the CPI was 3.8 per cent.
The Regulator of Social Housing.
From Monday 7 April 2026, service charges will be increased by an amount that depends on the cost of the services you receive.
Service charges cover a range of communal facilities including caretaking and cleaning, estate and grounds maintenance, and communal utilities such as communal electricity. The cost of delivering these services is reviewed each year to determine the increase to be applied.
Every year we adjust the charges based on the actual costs of providing the services. Where savings are possible, we are passing them on.
Tenants will receive notification via a letter of the amount of rent and service charge applicable to your property.
If you are struggling to pay your rents and service charges, there is help and support available:
- Click here to access Money and debt advice | London Borough of Hounslow you can also use our online tool to create your personal budgeting plan. GOV.UK also provides an online calculator to check what benefits you might be entitled to.
- If you are in utilities arrears, you may be eligible to apply to the Household Support Fund (from 1 April this fund will be known as the Crisis Resilience Fund) for financial support to pay your utility bills – Apply for a household support grant | London Borough of Hounslow
- If you are unable to pay your rent and service charge, you may be eligible to apply for housing benefits – Apply for Housing Benefit | London Borough of Hounslow
- If you get housing benefit or Universal Credit payments, and find you are in financial difficulty due to a shortfall between your benefits and rent, you can apply for a discretionary housing payment – Discretionary Housing Payments | London Borough of Hounslow
If you receive Housing Benefit payments, as long as your own personal circumstances haven’t changed, then any increase in rent and eligible service charges will be covered.
You will need to let our Housing Benefit team know of the new charges to make sure that the correct level of housing benefit is paid.
If you receive Universal Credit (UC) payments, as long as your own personal circumstances haven’t changed, then any increase in rent will be covered.
You will need to let UC know of any new amount by selecting ‘report a change’ on your online UC account.
