53 Week Rent Year
What's a 53 week rent year?
This year, 2024/2025, is known as a 53 week rent year which means your rent will be charged 53 times instead of 52. This is because in 2024/25, there are 53 Mondays in the year.
Why does this happen?
Although Council tenants normally pay rent for 52 weeks a year, there are slightly more than 52 weeks in a year. This means that every five or six years those extra days accumulate to add an extra week to the year.
What does it mean for you?
Whether you pay your rent weekly, fortnightly, or four weekly, there will be an extra week of rent to pay. If you pay monthly, you need to ensure this extra week is covered in your monthly rent payment.
Lets look at an example:
Universal Credit are only paying benefit for 52 weeks housing in the same year. The shortfall of one weeks rent is currently the responsibility of YOU the tenant. The shortfall is spread over 12 months so can go unnoticed.
If the rent being charged by your landlord is £150 per week, it will show up as a £12.50 shortfall each month.
My story so far
So far, I've contact my housing association who have put the fault on Universal Credit.
Universal Credit are putting the blame on the Housing Association
I've contact the Citizens Advice Bureau for advice about the discrepancy and they said I could make a complaint online to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
I have written to the Work and Pensions Committee to try to get UC to pay the shortfall.
I have written to my local MP to have this issue raised in parliament.
The bottom line is they are blaming each other. Unfortunately for us, WE are paying the price for this.
They see no reason for the current situation to change, as neither party are experiencing any
financial loss. The financial discrepancy is being covered by the unsuspecting vulnerable tenants.
They are hoping that this issue stays under the radar, so things stay as they are.
I believe neither party will change their standpoint until ordered to do so.
WE MUST NOT LET THIS SLIDE
If my letters achieve no result, then I strongly believe an independent inquiry is needed.
I will raise a petition to parliament for this independent inquiry.
A fact finder must make an ultimate decision on which party is correct - how many rental weeks
are in the financial year 2024/2025.
A legally binding decision that must be upheld by both parties.
If social housing, council housing and housing associations are deemed to be right, then UC must
pay their obligation - the shortfall to the affected claimants, so they are not disadvantaged/
discriminated against when compared to non social housing tenants.
If UC are found to be correct then the Social Housing landlords and all those charging rent for 53
weeks must refund their tenants the one week over payment portion that has been collected.
THIS INJUSTICE MUST BE RESOLVED
Like the Post Office scandal the truth will come out and must be addressed.
Check if this is happening to you:
You should check the rental increase letter/booklet your landlord has sent you regarding your rent for this financial year 2024/2025. It should state if your landlord is charging you for 53 weeks, mine was in small print under the new rental figures.
If you do not have your letter/booklet to hand then you can find out by checking yourself. To do
this you should do the following :
Step One:
First find the full amount your landlord is taking from you each month for your rent, for me I looked at my bank account statement for the amount, as shown above.
For our example we will say your landlord is charging you £150.00 per week. This multiplied by 53 weeks is £7,950 per annum. Then dividing this figure by 12 gives the monthly rental amount of £662.50.
Step Two:
Look up in your online Universal Credit (UC) payment breakdown by selecting a month, June or after, this year, and it will show you exactly how much of your UC is allocated to housing.
In our example UC housing is paying £150.00 per week multiplied by 52. That’s £7,800 per annum.
Divide this by 12 and the UC monthly figure for housing is £650.00
Subtract the second figure from the first figure to see if there is a discrepancy.
Our example is £662.50 minus £650.00. Resulting in a £12.50 SHORTFALL every month. If the two amounts (rent taken and UC housing) are the same, then you are not affected.
If you see a negative discrepancy then YOU are currently being underpaid, and will be financially worse off every month as a result.
What you can do if you're affected
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You can put in an official complaint online to Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) complaints procedure for Universal Credit here : https://makeacomplaint.dwp.gov.uk/
I was advised, when I did this, that there is a discretionary housing fund, through your local council, that I could apply to for the shortfall.
This is a LIMITED fund, and when money runs out ….
It seems to me that the DWP are hoping people will be appeased by this, and that that will be the end of their complaint, and the problem. (I will not applying to this fund myself, as I would rather tackle the source of the problem, not put a band-aid on my wound, whilst others are bleeding).
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You can write to your local MP to highlight this issue.
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You can contact the Work and Pensions Committee.
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You can email me at pay53weeks@gmail.com so I can inform you if a petition is needed, and can invite you to sign when ready.
If we stay as individuals on this then we WILL be ignored - but I believe this is affecting millions
across the UK.
We must unite, so our collective ‘noise’ is too loud to be ignored.
To quote others ‘Our Voices are Powerful’ and ‘if we sit back and take it, NOTHING will change’
Thank you for your interest in this national issue. If it doesn’t affect you, it probably affects
someone you know.
Julia of Chichester