ateb has adopted a Living Rent that establishes a link between rents and customers’ ability to pay them. Its aim is to ensure that our rents are genuinely affordable for working households on low incomes. The methodology used was published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the National Housing Federation in 2015 and aims to ensure that tenants spend no more than 28% of their income after tax on their core rent.

In January the ateb Board approved this methodology for setting new rents and approving annual rent increases.

There is more we want to do to ensure that the new policy is delivering its desired outcomes.

• We want to have an ongoing dialogue with our customers on the affordability of rent to allow us to refine our policy for rent setting over time
• We want to do further work on making sure service charges are affordable and offer good value for money
• We want to ensure that your homes are energy efficient and that costs associated with heating your home are affordable

In doing all of this we will continue to comply with Welsh Government policy, ensuring that the average rent for all properties continues to fall within the defined rent envelope that is updated annually.

We are happy to provide a full copy of the Affordable Rent Setting Policy to our customers on request. Please email us at [email protected]

If anyone is finding it difficult to afford their rent or other household costs and you would like support and advice from our Money Solutions Team, please contact us on 0800 854 568.