My Rent

Your rent will change based on your lease agreement with Eastlight. If your lease agreement states an April increase, you will receive a letter at the beginning of March detailing the new rent you should pay from April 2026.

We understand that rent rises can be hard to manage, especially when the cost-of-living remains high. Please contact us if you are struggling or worried about how to pay your rent. For more information about support available, click here.

You will not lose your home if you’re struggling to pay your rent. All we ask is that you reach out early and work with us to manage any arrears together. We’re here to support you.

From April 2026, your garage rent will increase by 5.8%. You’ll receive your rent letter with full details of your new rent from the beginning of March.

From 1st April 2026 if you are charged monthly, or 6th April 2026 if you are charged weekly.

We are a not-for-profit organisation. The rent you pay us helps us provide your services, maintain your homes, and build affordable homes.

The cost of providing these services, including repairs and improvements to your home, have gone up significantly over the last year.

We intend to use the rent we receive next year to help us provide your services, including the following:

• Carrying out more than 40,000 repairs in your homes including damp and mould and gas contractor works
• Carrying out more than 10,000 gas inspections
• Replacing almost 500 boilers
• Building 310 new homes for those who need them.

Our Board decides on the increase, following government policy. The Board includes Eastlight residents who are members of our Customer Influence Committee.

For rented homes, the maximum rise is based on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) as of September 2025 plus 1%. For shared owners, it is based on your lease agreement with Eastlight.

For more detailed information, please refer to the documents entitled: ‘How your rent has been set’ here.

You can access your rent information via the My Eastlight portal and app. Simply visit https://portal.eastlighthomes.co.uk/ and log in with the email address we have on file for you.

If you’re a new tenant and we didn’t have your email address before November 2025 or you want to log in with a different email address or your phone number, you’ll need to complete a few more details including your Tenancy Reference Number. This number will be included in your rent letter.

You can see our website page with useful registration guides and portal information here.

Yes, please contact us as soon as you can. Our Customer Services Team are on hand to provide clear guidance, answer any questions you may have and signpost you to additional support.

For more information about support available, click here.

You will not lose your home if you’re struggling to pay your rent. All we ask is that you reach out early and work with us to manage any arrears together. We’re here to support you.

Your service charges cover the cost of services you receive to your home. We do not profit from your service charges. If you pay service charges, you will receive information about these in your rent letter.

We’ve made some changes on services charges for 2026/27.

We’ve listened to your feedback and we’re strengthening our oversight of the services in your neighbourhood, giving your neighbourhood team a clearer role in monitoring what you receive.  Across four regions, our 32 neighbourhood teams provide local help tailored to each community, with specialist teams ready to assist with more complex situations.

As part of our wider service charge improvement project, we’re also:

• Strengthening our oversight of managing agents
• Ensuring regular checks so services match the needs of each neighbourhood
• Improving how we manage contracts and utilities, such as gas and electricity
• Reviewing high charge service charge caps each year to help keep costs fair for all residents.

This year’s cap is higher than previously to ensure Eastlight can cover the rising costs of the services provided and has been agreed by our Board. 266 residents will still have a capped service charge in 2026/27 and we will review the impact of raising the cap before deciding any cap for 2027/28.

Moving from historic costs to estimated costs

Until now, many charges have been based on the previous year’s spending. This could lead to outdated figures, especially if the year included unusually high or low expenditure.

We’re now moving to setting service charges based on the estimated costs for the year ahead. This approach:

• Gives a clearer and more accurate view of expected spending
• Avoids relying on outdated figures
• Supports better control of costs

For this cycle, charges are being set using estimated 2026-27 costs. This is good practice and is what most other housing associations do.

For those with affordable rent, service charges are included in your rent. For more information, please refer to the Service charge area on our website here.

The government announced that for the forthcoming year, means-tested benefits including Universal Credit will rise. This means that if you receive these benefits, they will increase too from April 2026, helping meet your household expenses, including rent.

If your Housing Benefit is paid directly to Eastlight (as of February 2026) we will notify your local authority of the new rent charges.

If your Housing Benefit is paid directly to you, or if you have only recently requested that it should be paid directly to Eastlight, please supply a copy of your increase letter to your local authority.

For Universal Credit, please log on to your journal on or after 1st April 2026 if you are charged monthly, or 6th April 2026 if you are charged weekly, and update the housing costs element. The figures can be found at the end of your rent letter, in the Appendix.

Please do not update your journal with these changes before this date, as your Universal Credit will not be updated with your new rent and you will need to update your journal again.

It is your responsibility to update Universal Credit with your new rent charges.

You will receive a separate letter regarding your Rent Direct Debit. We will recalculate your payment, and Allpay will write to you to confirm the amount.

If you are charged weekly but prefer to pay monthly, please note that your instalment from 1st April 2026 will reflect the new rent due from 6th April 2026.

Please call us on 0330 128 0330 and we will advise you.

Consider setting up a Direct Debit for your rent payments to make it easier for you to ensure your payment is made to us without any worry. We will recalculate your instalments for any future increases so that your account is always up to date.

We can offer Direct Debit payments on any day of the month to suit your circumstances. Call us on 0330 128 0330 and ask to set up a Direct Debit.

Please tell your bank to change your payments to cover the change in your charges. Eastlight cannot do this for you because only you are able to access your bank account.

Have you considered setting up a direct debit instead? We will recalculate your instalments for any future increases so that your account is always up to date.

We can offer Direct Debit payments on any day of the month to suit your circumstances. Call us on 0330 128 0330 and ask to set up a Direct Debit.

Your rent may be different to your neighbour’s depending on the type of tenure of your home, as different tenures, like social rent, affordable rent or shared ownership, are calculated using different rent-setting rules and may also reflect factors like when the tenancy started, property size and any services included.

This is a legal requirement when we increase the rent for your type of tenancy.

Please call our Customer Service Team on 0330 128 0330. We can email the rent increase letter to you so that you can use a screen reader to read it.

Please call our Customer Service Team on 0330 128 0330. We can use a translation service called Language Line to translate the letter for you over the phone.