CREL Rent Reviews — prepare notices and create charge schedules

After calculating a CREL rent review, review the result before preparing the tenant's notice or creating the new charge schedule. These are separate actions: generating or emailing a notice does not change rent charges.

Check the notice template

In Tenant Letter Templates, use the letter type CREL Rent Review Notice. Only one active template of this type is permitted, regardless of its label. Edit the existing template, or deactivate it before activating a replacement.

The default template includes the rent review details, maximum rent calculation and declaration. It also includes --CURO_USER_SIGNATURE-- in the authorised-agent signature area. When generating a notice, Affinity replaces this tag with the generating user's uploaded profile signature, if available. Check your profile signature before preparing notices.

Updating a template does not rewrite notices already generated.

Generate and review the notice

1. Open the tenancy's saved calculation.
2. In Rent review notice, select Generate notice.
3. Select View notice PDF to check the completed document.
4. Use Amend notice to make necessary changes through the existing tenant letter editor.
5. Check the tenant names, address, dates, rent figures, signature and applicable delivery wording before issuing it.

Amending the letter changes the correspondence only. It does not change the saved rent calculation or charge schedule.

If you change and save the calculation, the existing notice is marked as outdated. Select Generate updated notice and review it again. The earlier notice remains in correspondence history. Outdated or superseded notices cannot be emailed as the current review notice.

Email or print the notice

For a printed notice, download the PDF and arrange delivery using your organisation's procedure.

1. To email the current notice, select Email notice.
2. Check the selected tenant recipients and edit the default subject or message as required.
3. Check the BCC option, if required.
4. Complete the confirmation below BCC. Affinity requires confirmation that prior written consent to email service is held for the selected recipients and that the notice is ready to send.
5. Send the email using the existing tenant-letter email flow.

Preparing a notice does not send it. Emailing it does not record the tenant's receipt date. Your housing association remains responsible for checking the notice and meeting the applicable timing and service requirements; Affinity does not enforce the notice issue window. Refer to the RTB's cost rental guidance for more detail.

Create the charge schedule

1. In the calculation screen, review Create charge schedule.
2. Check the displayed schedule start date. This is the next configured rent due date on or after the tenancy anniversary.
3. Check the new rent and any other recurring charges in the preview.
4. Select Create Charge Schedule and confirm.

For example, if the anniversary is 27 September and rent is due on the first of each month, the schedule starts on 1 October. If rent is due on the anniversary itself, that date is used. Weekly tenancies follow the account's weekly collection settings.

Other active recurring charge types from the most recent previous schedule are carried forward with their existing tenant and benefit amounts. One-off charges and charges removed from that previous schedule are not restored.

If the schedule starts today or in the past, Affinity rebuilds the tenancy charges. The tenant balance is reconciled from the active transactions. Financial lock dates and existing schedules with the same effective date can prevent creation; resolve the reported issue before trying again.

Once applied, the review shows that the charge schedule has been created. Viewing the schedule's details also shows its source CREL review and calculation information. An already-applied calculation cannot be recalculated through this screen.