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Paying Your Rent And Service Charges

Paying your rent is really important as it means we are able to look after your homes, improve your neighbourhoods, and offer services that help you stay safe in your home. It is important that you pay your rent on time.

As a Trident Housing resident, ensuring your rent and service charges are paid on time must be a priority.

When you sign your tenancy agreement with us you are agreeing to pay your rent on time and to not fall into rent arrears. It is important that you always pay your rent in advance and on time. If you are worried about paying your rent, then speak to us. 

We are committed to supporting you to take control of your finances and help you keep on top of paying your rent, regardless if you pay your rent yourselves through employment or if it funded by someone else such as your local Housing Benefit office.

If you fall behind with your rent payments, don’t ignore it! We know that it can be a stressful situation but tell us first so that we can support and advise you. Contact your Income Officer immediately, who can look at your situation and give you advice on budgeting and benefits. 

If you need to check your rent balance, give us a call and we will be happy to give you those details. You can also register for our online portal to check your rent and service charges 24/7.

When you sign your tenancy agreement you are accepting responsibility of paying the full rent on your home.  

Rent and service charges are priority payments, and not keeping up with payments could lead to losing your home and it could affect your credit rating. 

Take a look below and find the payment option right for you or get in touch with our Income team for more information. 


Direct debit
Most people find that direct debit is the easiest and most convenient way to pay your rent, and you can choose a payment frequency that suits you (weekly, fortnightly or monthly). 

With a direct debit you have the reassurance that your rent is always paid on time and that any changes are managed for you without the hassle of going to the bank. The direct debit guarantee means that your payments are secure and protects you in the rare event of an error. Call us on 0121 633 4633 and we can set this up for you over the phone. 


Standing order
You can arrange to set this up with your bank to pay Trident Housing directly from your account on the dates agreed within your tenancy agreement. If you choose this method, you must make sure that you change this standing order with the bank should your rent or service charge amount change. 


Allpay
Allpay payment card
You can use your Allpay payment card to make payments to your account directly. These cards are accepted at all Post Office’s and stores who display the PayPoint or Payzone signs.

Allpay online
Log on to Allpay website at www.allpay.net to pay your account by debit or credit card. Select ‘make a payment online’ and follow the instructions.
Allpay payment app If you own an Apple, Windows or Android smartphone you can now download the new Allpay app. This new app will allow you to pay your rent through Allpay anytime, anywhere via your mobile phone.


On the phone
You can pay anytime you like over the telephone with a debit or credit card by calling
0330 041 6497


Pay over the counter
Visit Trident Group’s Central Office at 239 Holliday Street, Birmingham, B1 1SJ and pay by cheque or card (Except American Express). Our offices are open Monday-Friday, between 9am-4pm.


Pay by cheque
Please make cheques payable to Trident Housing Association and write your name and address on the back of the cheque.


Over the telephone
You can call us on 0121 633 4633 during our office opening hours (Monday-Friday: 9am-4pm) or Allpay 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 0844 557 8321.

It is important that you make the rent the first bill you pay. You should always try to have paid one week ahead so that you are always in credit. Failing to pay may put you at risk of losing your home. We always want to work with you so please ring us on 0121 633 4633 for help or advice. You may also receive a message from the team should you go into arrears so we can help you manage your money better. 

The most important thing to do is to speak to one of our friendly and knowledgeable Income team. They are here to help you feel confident paying your rent and service charges and can help with advice. 

You can speak to the team by ringing 0121 633 4633 or email locality@tridentgroup.org.uk. 

If you feel that you may need money advice and you want to speak to someone other than your Income Officer, the following services provide free support on debt, claiming benefits and much more: 

National Debtline 

  • Call National Debtline on 0808 808 4000, Monday to Friday: 9am – 8pm, Saturday: 9:30am -1pm.
  • Webchat with an adviser, Monday to Friday 9am – 8pm and Saturday 9:30 am – 1pm. This is the fastest way to speak to a specialist adviser. 
  • Use their online tool to get debt help now. 
  • Visit www.nationaldebtline.org for useful information, example letters and debt advice fact sheets. 

Citizens Advice Page 

  • Call Adviceline on 0800 144 8848. Adviceline is available between 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. It’s usually busiest at the beginning and end of the day. It’s not available on public holidays. 
  • You can talk online about a debt problem between 8am and 7pm, Monday to Friday. 
  • Visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk for further information. 

StepChange 

  • Contact the UK’s leading debt charity on 0800 138 1111 (Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday 8am to 4pm) to get expert debt advice and fee-free debt management to help you tackle your debts. 
  • Visit www.stepchange.org for further information. 

Money Advice Service 

You can read more on our page about cost of living help. 

Universal Credit is a benefit that replaced the following six benefits: 

  • Job Seekers Allowance 
  • Income Support 
  • Employment and Support Allowance 
  • Housing Benefit 
  • Child Tax Credit 
  • Working Tax Credit 

Universal Credit is paid directly to the person claiming benefit and includes housing costs. It is normally paid monthly in arrears. If you receive Universal Credit or Housing Benefit you will be responsible for paying your own rent. It is your responsibility to ensure your claim is always up to date and to notify us of any changes to the amount you receive.  

To help you understand more about what Universal Credit is, please watch the following video: 

To help you make a claim, please watch the video below or contact your dedicated Income Officer on 0121 633 4633: 

To work out your entitlement to benefits, please click HERE. 

You will have received a letter in March confirming your rent charges from 1 April 2024. 

As your landlord, it is very important to us that we provide clear information on charges, reviews and annual increases so that you fully understand how we calculate your rent and service charge. 

The government sets the rent social landlords like Trident can charge, how they should be reviewed and how much they can be increased each year. This is called the Rent Standard and you can read the latest information about it on the gov.uk website by clicking here. The annual increase is usually set at the Consumer Price Index (the measurement of UK inflation) plus 1%. For instance, if the inflation rate was 7% it would mean that social housing providers could increase their rent by 8%. If your rent was £100, this would mean that you would be paying £108 after the increase. 

Many of our residents also pay a service charge in addition to the weekly rent which covers the costs of maintaining communal areas for your estate and/or block, that are shared with other residents. These include cleaning and gardening services but also for external maintenance and fire alarm systems to keep you safe.  

Service charges are not calculated by the same formula as rents. Any charges we make for services are based on the actual cost of providing the service. Details of any service charges applicable to your home are detailed in your personal rent increase letter which you receive each March. These letters tell you how much Trident has spent on providing the services to you and recover these costs. 

Shared owners will own part of their home and rent part of it from Trident. If you are a shared owner your monthly rent and service charge amount and the maximum it can increase is detailed in your lease agreement. We will review this amount each year and it may increase. 

Leasehold customers are those who have bought their home, usually by taking out a mortgage. They do not pay rent to Trident but they are responsible for any service charges that apply to their property. Leaseholders pay a service charge for the upkeep, repair and improvements of buildings, and building insurance. If you pay a variable service charge, we will consult with you before making any major changes to the amount you pay. Please see point 7 of your Summary of Leaseholders’ rights and obligations for more information about this. 

We reinvest all of your rent and service charges back into your homes and communities. We use this money for your repairs, your housing teams, and for maintaining your neighbourhood as somewhere you are proud to live. 

For every £1 of rent we receive:  

  • 50p was invested back into people’s homes through property improvements, planned and routine maintenance.  
  • 28p on housing management for our 6,000+ existing customers and reletting vacant homes.  
  • 15p was spent on servicing the debt used to build our homes.  
  • 3p was invested in new social housing properties, topped up by house sales and additional debt borrowing.  
  • 4p was retained as a surplus to invest back into our housing and our social purpose 

You can see more on how our money is spent in our financial documents which we publish on this website each year. 

If you would like to have your say on how we can provide more value for money, you can join one of our resident panels or customer voice group who meet regularly to discuss how we can improve.

You can find out more by visiting our engagement page or by calling the team on 0121 633 4633 or emailing communityengagement@tridentgroup.org.uk.

If you are unhappy with your rent and service charges, you can send a message to our complaints team using the form below.

You will then enter our complaints process. Your complaint will initially be dealt with by a Trident Group manager who will follow the stage one process. If you are still unhappy, you can then escalate this to stage two where on of our senior management team will review it.

If you are still unhappy, you can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service who are an independent, impartial, and free service who monitors how Social Housing providers perform on complaints. The Housing Ombudsman Service will ask if you have contacted us so please place a formal complaint with us first.

For more information on our complaints procedure, visit our complaints page.

Rent and service charges are priority payments, and not keeping up with payments could lead to suspension of services, losing your home and it could affect your credit rating. Please always get in touch with us as we wish to help you stay in your home – we are here to help.