Free tool

Service charge calculator

Enter weekly amounts for each line. The calculator separates what Housing Benefit can cover from what it cannot, and flags the lines that depend on your evidence. The figures shown are an example. Replace them with yours.

ChargeType£ per week

Core rent
Property costs, lease or loan, insurance, major repairs, voids and bad debt allowance.
£
Cleaning of communal areas
Hallways, kitchens and bathrooms that residents share.
£
Heating, lighting and hot water in communal areas
Only the shared parts of the building.
£
Furniture and household equipment
Provided with the room, including repair and replacement.
£
Communal TV aerial, door entry and laundry facilities
Facilities, not a personal laundry service.
£
Intensive housing management
Eligible if it is housing management, not support, and backed by time records.
£
Fuel for the resident's own room
Councils apply fixed deductions if it is included without a separate figure.
£
Water charges
Never eligible for Housing Benefit.
£
Meals
Fixed deductions apply where meals are included in the charge.
£
Support, counselling or key work
Paid by a commissioner or the provider, never by Housing Benefit.
£
Cleaning of the resident's own room
Only eligible where nobody in the household can do it.
£

SEA Audit

Want your breakdown checked line by line?

SEA Audit reviews rent and service charge schedules against the eligibility rules and the evidence behind each line, and tells you what a council is likely to challenge.

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