The Government wants to make sure rent is fair. That means:

• People living in similar homes in the same area should pay about the same rent.
• It doesn’t matter if the landlord is the council or a housing association.

To do this, the Government made a rule to help work out what rent should be. They looked at:

• How much your home was worth at a certain time,
• How many bedrooms it has,
• How much people earn in Essex,
• Where your home is.

This helped them set a target rent – the amount they think is fair.

This is because we charge rent over 48 weeks in a year.

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