Rent includes service costs

Sometimes a client's rent includes service costs. If the client is renting, any service costs must be deducted from their rent to determine their accommodation costs.

Generally, the service costs and accommodation costs will be itemised separately on the tenancy or rental agreement. MSD can only use the accommodation cost to calculate the allowable weekly qualifying accommodation costs for Temporary Additional Support.

Where the service costs are not itemised separately MSD will need to assess the cost of the service(s) and deduct it from the total rent, to determine the cost of accommodation.

The first part of the assessment is to have the client ask the landlord to provide an estimate of the accommodation and service costs. Use the accommodation cost only.

Where this is not possible or if there is a disagreement between the landlord and client about the cost split between accommodation and service costs, MSD can use a variety of sources to estimate the service cost depending on what that cost is.

For example, if the total rent includes electricity, the Powerswitch website can be used to calculate the cost of the electricity to be deducted from the total rent.