Local Housing Allowance
The current Local Housing Allowance rates that apply are shown here.
See our Local Housing Allowance frequently asked questions (FAQ) page.
Are you renting accommodation from a
Private Landlord?
If you are and you make a new claim (or change address)
for Housing Benefit after 7 April 2008 your claim
will be assessed under the new Local Housing Allowance
scheme.
The new Local Housing Allowance gives tenants more choice in
where they live and it's fairer too. This is because with Local
Housing Allowance:
- you will be entitled to the same amount of benefit as people in the same circumstances as you
- you can find out how much benefit you can get before you rent a property
- you can decide how much of your benefit you want to spend on renting a property
- you will usually get your benefit paid to you. It is up to you to pay the rent to your landlord
- you will find out about your benefit more quickly than before
How do I calculate how may rooms I
need?
The amount that can be used to assess your entitlement is
normally based on the number of bedrooms you require.
The way you can calculate the number of rooms you need is as
follows:-
You need one bedroom for:-
- every adult couple
- any other adult aged 16 or over
- any two children of the same sex
- any two children regardless of sex under age 10
- any other child
The number of living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms is ignored
for the purpose of this calculation, as it is assumed that all
tenants are entitled to these.
The Rent Service have published a new Local Housing Allowance
Direct
website, which includes an on-line bedroom calculator (choose
'Find your LHA' from the left hand navigation menu).
What else might affect the Local Housing Allowance rate?
There are extra rules if you are:
- aged 25 or over, single and do not live with any dependants
- aged under 25, single and do not live with any dependants
- a couple and do not live with any dependants
- you are a care leaver aged under 22
- you are severely disabled
If you are a joint tenant this may affect the benefit you can get. For more information about joint tenants, please get in touch with us.
How will my LHA be
paid?
Local Housing Allowance will be paid to the tenant in all
cases unless there are exceptional circumstances not to do
so.
Payment will usually be paid by BACS to your bank or building
society account.
If you do not have a bank account you may find the
following leaflets helpful that have been published by the
Financial Services Authority (FSA):
(551 KB, 8 pages)
We also the the following leaflet about
opening a Basic Bank account:
(71 KB, 2 pages)
Can my LHA be paid
directly to my Landlords?
In most cases the answer will be no. Unless there is a good
reason for payments not to be paid directly to you all LHA payments
are to be paid to the tenant. It is then your responsibility to pay
your Landlord. If you think you will not be able to accept payments
you can make a request for us to consider paying someone else
(either your landlord or someone else on your behalf). You can
request this by completing our 'Safeguard request form' - BF12
available on our download page.
If it is agreed that we can pay LHA to another person we may
then review this decision at a later date to check whether this
should continue or payments could then be amended back to
you.
If you require help with making your sageguard application, it
may be helpful to use one of the supporting
agencies. They may be able to help with your
application by providing evidence that could be considered under
our Safeguarding
Policy. For more details about these agencies please read on
leaflet 'Support Agencies Information' - BF14 available on our download page.