Assessment time frames
In public housing market rents are assessed once a year, in November.
Rebated rents are assessed every 6 months, in February and August.
Rebated rent assessments
If you have been given a rental rebate your rebated rent will be set for a fixed period of up to 26 weeks and will stay the same between assessment dates, even if your household income goes up between assessments.
However, if your household income goes down between assessments, you can apply to reduce your rent payments immediately.
Each time your rebated rent is assessed, you will receive a letter from Homes Victoria asking you to confirm the household income.
Check this letter carefully. Make sure that all the details are up to date and correct. If the income details are not correct contact your local housing office as soon as possible to have the details corrected.
You may be required to attend your local housing office to provide confirmation and evidence of your income for each assessment.
It is important that you respond to any request from Homes Victoria to confirm your household income details. If it does not receive confirmation of this income, you may have your rebate withdrawn, owe overdue rent and end up being evicted.
Income information from Centrelink
If you receive income from Centrelink, you can sign up for an income confirmation service. This means that your income information goes directly from Centrelink to Homes Victoria. Each time your pension or benefit changes that information is passed on to Homes Victoria to ensure that they have the correct income details for the next rebated rent assessment.
If you disagree with a rent rebate assessment
Different government policies and procedures affect how income is treated and how your rebated rent is calculated.
If you do not think Homes Victoria has calculated your rebated rent correctly, or applied their policy and procedures properly, you can contact us on our Social Housing Tenants number, 1800 068 860.
You can also contact your local Tenancy Plus provider. Tenancy Plus providers support renters in public housing.
You should also try to resolve the issue with your local housing office. If you reach an agreement with the local housing office, you should ask them to confirm the agreement in writing for you.
If you cannot resolve the issue with your local housing office, you can make a formal complaint to the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. You can also appeal to have a decision reviewed.
The links below connect to government information on making a formal complaint and on appealing against a decision to do with public housing.