Housing Authorities Editing and Proofreading Services

Public and social housing bodies write to people for whom the letter is not routine. A rent recalculation, a transfer decision, an arrears notice or a notice to end a tenancy lands with someone whose housing is the only thing standing between them and a much worse situation. Many are managing on very little, some are managing conditions that make official correspondence hard to process, and almost none have anyone to ask. A letter that is technically accurate and practically incomprehensible does real damage in this sector in a way it does not in most others.

We edit what housing authorities, providers and co-operatives produce — tenant handbooks and tenancy agreements, rent calculation and annual review notices, income verification requests, arrears and repayment arrangement letters, notices to end tenancy and eviction process information, transfer and priority allocation policies, waiting list communications and application guidance, repairs and maintenance service standards, anti-social behaviour and neighbour dispute correspondence, succession and household composition guidance, accessibility and modification request processes, tenant engagement and consultation material, board and committee reporting, and funding submissions and regulatory returns. Our editors check reading level against the tenant population and that every letter says what the reader must do and by when.

The rent recalculation notice is the letter that generates the most contact, the most fear and the most avoidable arrears. Income-based rent is worked out from a formula involving household income, deductions, subsidies and a percentage, and the tenant receives a new figure with none of the arithmetic. Someone whose rent has risen by ninety dollars cannot tell whether it is correct, whether they have been penalised for reporting a change, or whether their child's part-time earnings caused it. We rewrite these so the calculation is shown line by line in the tenant's own numbers, so the specific reason for any change from last year is named, so the date the new amount starts and the first payment affected are unmissable, and so the review route and the deadline for it appear next to the figure rather than in a closing paragraph. Authorities that write this letter properly see a measurable fall in both disputes and arrears, because the arrears are frequently caused by the confusion rather than by the amount.

Everything you send is treated in confidence, including tenant files and material about identifiable households — please redact as appropriate. We are editors rather than housing, legal or benefits advisers, and we offer no view on eligibility, rent setting or any tenancy decision. What we can do is make the writing plain, calm and usable by the people who receive it.