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Shoreline Housing Partnership is dependent upon tenants paying their charges regularly and promptly in order to be able to pay for repairs and improvements to its properties including your own.

 

How to pay your rent and other charges
Housing Benefit
Payment difficulties
How much rent you can expect to pay for a Shoreline property
Rent free weeks
Rent setting and review
Service charges

 

How to pay your rent and other charges

Your rent is due on a Monday and must be paid no later than by the close of business on the following Friday to avoid falling into arrears.

 

If you wish to pay your rent fortnightly or monthly, this must be agreed with the Neighbourhood Officer and payments must be made in advance.

 

You can pay your rent in any of the following ways:

 

1. Using your Allpay swipe card

Important information about PayPoint outlets

PayPoint have announced that our customers will no longer be able to make payments at The Local, 1 Wellowgate, Grimsby following the news that First Quench Retailing who own 'The Local' have gone into administration.

Payments can be made at any PayPoint or Post Office in the United Kingdom.

Please note you can no longer make payments at stores displaying the Pay Zone logo.

You will be sent an Allpay card within a couple of days of moving into your home, together with a list of PayPoint outlets in the area.

If your card has been lost, damaged or stolen please telephone us on 0845 849 2000 option 2 and we will arrange for a replacement to be posted to you.

 

2. By telephone

You can pay your rent over the telephone to Shoreline or to Allpay.

To pay your rent to Shoreline using a debit or credit card simply telephone our main number 0845 849 2000 option 2 and one of our customer contact advisors will be able to take details of your payment. You will need to tell them your rent account number, the amount you wish to pay, credit or debit card number, expiry date, issue number (for Switch) and the 3 digit security code.

You can make payments using the Allpay service with a debit card using the telephone.

The Allpay automated telephone service number is 0844 557 8321. You will be asked for your allpay.net card number and for your Debit Card number, expiry date, issue number (for Switch) and the amount you wish to pay. The transaction will then be authorised online and you will be given an Authorisation Code. If you have any general enquiries you can contact Allpay on 0844 225 5729.

 

3. Over the internet - 24 hours a day

Payments can be made using the allpay website. You will be asked for your allpay.net card number and for your Debit Card number, expiry date, issue number (for Switch) and the amount you wish to pay. The transaction will then be authorised online and you will be given an Authorisation Code.

 

4. By text

Paying your rent by text will allow you to make a payment at any time or any place by using your mobile phone. To do this you will need to register your mobile phone number and debit/credit card details with allpay and follow the guidance on how to use the scheme. Once you have set this up you can text the amount you wish to pay and it will be deducted from your account. We will then send you a text to confirm that your payment has been processed.

 

5. Direct Debit

If you wish to pay by Direct Debit you can download a form now from our Forms page or call us on 0845 849 2000 option 2 and we will send you a form to complete. You can also click here to find out more about Direct Debit.

 

6. In person at any of these offices

You can pay by cheque, cash or debit card at:

• Shoreline Customer Service Centre - this office cannot take cash payments
• Make the Neighbourhood Better Centre
• North East Lincolnshire Council Customer Access Points at:

  • Municipal Offices, Grimsby

  • Civic Offices, Cleethorpes

  • Kennedy Way, Immingham

click here for details of where our offices are based.

When paying by cheque in person, please make your cheque payable to North East Lincolnshire Council when paying at a council office and payable to Shoreline Housing Partnership Ltd. when paying at a Shoreline office.

 

7. By post to Shoreline Housing Partnership

You can send a cheque or postal order to us, made payable to Shoreline Housing Partnership Ltd, please write your rent account number on the back and post it to:

Shoreline Finance Rental Team
1st Floor Shoreline House
Westgate Park
Charlton Street
Grimsby
North East Lincolnshire
DN31 1SQ

Housing Benefit

Some people may be entitled to assistance in paying their rent. If you think you may be entitled to help you should apply for Housing Benefit. Even if you are not sure please make a claim because claims made at a later date cannot always be backdated.

You can get advice and an application form from any of North East Lincolnshire Council's offices or from our Customer Service Centre.

More information is also available in our leaflet called Easy ways to pay your rent or from our money matters section where you can find out about North East Lincolnshire Council's Quids In campaign.

 

Calculate your benefit entitlement on-line

You may have wondered how much housing benefit you may be entitled to and if the benefit you think you will receive will cover the cost of your rent.  Often you will not know until you have submitted a housing benefit form and waited for it to be processed, which may in the meantime cause your account to slip into arrears.  

With this in mind we felt it would be useful to direct you towards the on-line housing benefit calculator available on North East Lincolnshire Council’s website.   The calculator lets you input all the information you would normally submit with a benefit claim and it will then give a you an estimated figure of the benefit you are likely to receive. 

We believe this could help you in many ways, for example, it could encourage you to submit a housing benefit form if you feel you are entitled to claim benefit, or if you are not going to receive full benefit to cover your rent, it will allow you to judge how much you should pay whilst your claim is being processed.

If you choose to use the calculator there are a number of important points you must remember;

• The calculated figure is an estimate based on the information supplied by you, if the information you supply is not correct then the estimate will not be correct.
• The calculator only gives you an idea of the benefit you are likely to receive; it does not fully assess your claim and is still subject to final confirmation from housing benefit. 
• You cannot submit a housing benefit claim by using the calculator, to do this you must still complete and return a housing benefit claim form.  This can be done at any North East Lincolnshire Council or Shoreline customer service centre. 

If you are already in receipt of Housing Benefit you should complete any new forms that are sent to you - do not ignore them. If you do ignore them your benefits will be cancelled.

 

Working Benefits

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit can be paid while you earn, working full time or part time. Why not take a look at our working benefits section where you can really see the benefits of working?

 

Payment difficulties

If you are unable to pay your rent or any other charge, regardless of the reason, then please contact the Neighbourhood Services team immediately on telephone number 0845 849 2000 option 2.

If you do not pay your rent then you may lose your home. If this should happen then Shoreline Housing Partnership almost certainly will not agree to rehouse you as a homeless family.

However, Shoreline Housing Partnership wants to help you remain in your property. Legal action is taken only as a last resort and we try wherever possible to avoid this. In order to avoid possible action, DO NOT IGNORE any reminder letters that are sent to you. Contact us as soon as you have any payment difficulties so that we can offer you the necessary advice to assist you in clearing any arrears.

If you leave us while owing us money then we will give you an opportunity to pay this to us after you have left. If, however, you fail to do so then we may bring in a debt collector to recover the debt for us.

 

How much rent you can expect to pay for a Shoreline property

The following figures are the average net rents for our properties excluding any water, heating or warden charges. *

Property Type	Net Rent
Bedsit	£51.25
1 bedroom property	£60.49
2 bedroom property	£67.75
3 bedroom property	£72.86
4 bedroom property	£79.36

* Prices correct at 1 April 2010 for new tenants.

All Shoreline properties are subject to Council Tax charges. For more information about Council Tax and to find out which Council Tax band applies to a property please contact North East Lincolnshire Council on (01472) 313131 or visit their website.

 

Rent free weeks

Every year rent is calculated to be paid over 48 weeks. This allows for our tenants to have four weeks where we do not charge tenants who are up-to-date with their rent payments. For 2010 these are:

• 5 April
• 30 August
• 20 December
• 27 December

If you are in arrears with your rent you must make payments during these weeks. The bonus of doing this is that everything paid will be taken fully from the arrears. If your tenancy finishes at the end of a rent free week you will not have the right to a refund

 

Rent setting and review

Rent charges are reviewed annually in accordance with Government policy guidelines. The Government current rent policy is to charge rents in line with a formula which it issues to us. For more details see our leaflet on 'How your rent is calculated' (185kb)

 

Service charges

Some tenants will have a service charge included in their rent. Details of these charges will be given to you each year so that you can see exactly how much you are paying for each service.

We will tell you of any changes to rent or service charges at least four weeks before the charge is applied.

Useful Links

Click on the logo below to visit the Allpay website and pay your rent.

 

You can now pay your rent by text

 

Click here to download a copy of our advice leaflet called How to Pay Your Rent

 

Your new Allpay card - click for a list of outlets where you can use it...

 

Click here to visit North East Lincolnshire Council's website for more information about Housing Benefit.

 

Click here to calculate your housing benefit online

 

Click here to visit the National Debtline website

 

 

Benefit entitlement and debt advice surgeries:

Click here to visit the Citizens Advice Bureau and Community Advice Service websites which will give you details on the local benefit entitlement and debt advice surgeries being held weekly in North East Lincolnshire.  If you have money worries or believe you are entitled to extra benefits contact one of these agencies for further advice.