The rent you pay in social housing is also called the ‘tenant contribution’.
Most tenants pay rent fortnightly. You need to pay the rent two weeks in advance.
How is rent calculated?
The tenant contribution is 25 per cent of the assessed household income.
Household income
Household income is the amount of money that everyone living in your home earns. Examples of income:
- wages
- Centrelink benefits
- Veterans’ Affairs benefits
- overseas pensions
- child support payments
- superannuation payments for people who have retired
- interest payments
- some lump sum payments.
Other types of income are also included.
There are differences in how some incomes are calculated.
Income from children or dependents who are under 16 years of age are not included.
Tell Homes Tasmania your household income
It is important you pay the correct tenant contribution for your household.
You must let us know when there is any change in your household by completing a Household Income Statement (HIS).
If you do not tell us your household income has changed, you may build up a rent arrears and have a debt to Homes Tasmania you have to pay back.
If you do not tell us your household income, we will charge you market rent (see below).
For example, your household income will change if you have a baby or if someone moves out of your house. Changes such as these affect your income and therefore your tenant contribution.
If you receive a Centrelink payment
You can use Centrelink’s income confirmation if you receive a Centrelink payment. You will need to give Homes Tasmania permission to ask Centrelink for your income details. You still need to tell us when you use income confirmation.
With income confirmation, Centrelink will tell us:
- the type of pension or payment you receive
- the amount of your last payment, and the next one
- any other income you have
- the number of dependent children you have
- any money that has been taken out of your payments, such as rent or child support
- assets you have, such as shares, savings or property.
If you want to stop using income confirmation you need to write and tell us that you do not want us to use income confirmation anymore.
Market rent
Market rent is the amount you pay in rent in the private rental market.
The market rent is set by using information from the Office of the Valuer-General. It is reviewed each year.
Market rent is higher than or equal to the tenant contribution.
The difference between the market rent and the tenant contribution is covered by Homes Tasmania. This is called a rent subsidy.
tenant contribution + rent subsidy = market rent
Sometimes the amount of the tenant contribution adds up to more than the amount of the market rent. The maximum rent you can pay in a Homes Tasmania property is market rent. If you do not tell us about your household income, we will charge you market rent.
Michelle's story
Michelle lives in a shared home with two other adults – Vanessa and Krystal. Their household income is $1 000 per fortnight. Their tenant contribution is about $250 per fortnight.
Recently, Vanessa moved out. Michelle realised that she needed to tell Homes Tasmania that there were only two people living in the house now. When Vanessa left, they had less household income and Homes Tasmania decreased the rent.
For more information contact Homes Tasmania
Phone: 1300 665 663