• MyEastlight - your online portal
• The Allpay website or app – you will need your 19-digit swipe card reference, which you can find on the card, on your Allpay account or by contacting us. 

• Call 0330 041 6497 – you will need your 19-digit swipe card reference, alongside a credit or debit card.

• At the Post Office - you will need your swipe card.
• Via Pay Point. Any store with a Pay Point sign will accept a cash payment. You will need your swipe card.

• Direct Debit
• Standing Order 
• Please contact us for our bank details if you wish to set up a Direct Debit or Standing Order.

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.  Highlighting one example, the cost of our buildings insurance, including for everyone’s homes, increased by 60% last year to more than £1 million.

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

• Carrying out up to 30,000 repairs in your homes
• Installing 150 new bathrooms, 250 kitchens, 200 front doors and 120 rewires
• Spending £600,000 on aids and adaptations where needed to help residents stay independent in their homes
• Replacing approximately 800 heating systems
• Carrying out more than 20,000 safety checks covering gas, oil and electrics, keeping you safe in your home
• Building more than 200 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 2023 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’ at the bottom of this page.

From 1 April 2024, your rent will increase by 7.7%. You’ll receive your rent letter with full details of your new rent from the beginning of March.

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.

You will not lose your home if you cannot pay your rent, as long as you work with us to manage any arrears you have.

Your rent will change based on your lease agreement with Eastlight. At the beginning of March, you will receive your rent letter with full details of the new rent you should pay from 1 April 2024.

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.

We can help with financial support, benefits advice and help to manage your rent. For more information about support available, visit our cost-of-living page here.

You will not lose your home if you cannot pay your rent, as long as you work with us to manage any arrears you have.

From 1 April 2024, your rent will increase by 7.7%. You’ll receive your rent letter with full details of your new rent from the beginning of March.

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.

We can help with financial support, benefits advice and help to manage your rent. For more information about support available, visit our cost-of-living page here.

Yes, we can. If you’re struggling, please contact us.  We can offer you financial support, benefits guidance, and help with managing your rent.

For more information about what support is available, please visit our cost-of-living page here.

We do not profit from service charges, which are meant to cover the costs of services for your home.  If you pay service charges, you will receive information about your service charges in your rent letter.

If your rent is a social rent or you're a shared owner, the charges aim to recover the actual costs. We’ve limited any increases to a maximum of 7.7%, in line with your rent increase, plus £5 per week.

For those with affordable rent, service charges are included in your rent.

Eastlight Board Members have considered and supported the decisions made on any increases applied.

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 by 6.7% from April 2024, helping meet your household expenses, including rent.

If your Housing Benefit is paid directly to Eastlight (as of February 2024) 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.

Please log on to your journal on or after 1 April 2024 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 they will be rejected.

Between April 2024 and March 2025, the amount you receive in Universal Credit for housing might not be sufficient to cover all rent payments due. This is because there are 53 Mondays in the rent year, but the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 calculate housing costs based on 52 weeks a year.

Unfortunately this is outside Eastlight’s control, and many people who are tenants of other landlords and who claim Universal Credit will face the same challenge.

If you’re concerned about how you’ll be able to pay for the extra rent week, please contact us as soon as possible. Our Income Advisors stand ready to help you, with options including slightly increasing your regular payments to cover the extra week.

From Monday, 1 April 2024.

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

Please call us on 0330 128 0330 and ask to speak to the Income Team and we will try to help you.

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.

This is a legal requirement when we increase your rent.

Please call our Customer Service team.  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. We can use a language line service to translate this for you over the phone.