Local Housing Allowance
Contact
What is Local Housing Allowance?
The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is the new scheme for paying Housing Benefit, initially to tenants renting from private landlords, and comes into effect on 7th April 2008.
Local Housing Allowance gives tenants more choice in where they live and is fairer because:-
- with Local Housing Allowance you will get the same amount of benefit as people in the same circumstances as yourself. With Housing Benefit people living in smaller or less attractive properties usually got less benefit than people living in larger or more attractive properties
- you can decide how much of your benefit you want to spend on renting a property. For example, you can choose to pay more to rent a large property or you can rent a smaller property and use the rest of your benefit for other things
- you can find out how much Local Housing Allowance will be used in calculating how much benefit you will get before you rent a property. With Housing Benefit you might have had to wait for several weeks to find this out.
- if you get Local Housing Allowance you will get your benefit paid to you. It is up to you to pay the rent to your landlord in the same way as other tenants who do not get benefit
Who will be affected?
Initially LHA will only affect:-
- private tenants making a new claim for Housing Benefit
- existing benefit customers who change address to a privately rented property
- customers in privately rented accommodation who have a break in their existing benefit claim
How is LHA worked out?
The Local Housing Allowance is a flat rate housing allowance based on the number of people who live with you and the number of bedrooms needed. Rooms such as kitchens or bathrooms are not counted.
One bedroom is allowed for
- every adult couple
- any other adult aged 16 or over
- any two children regardless of sex aged under 10yrs
- any two children of the same sex aged under 16yrs
- any other child
If you are a single person under 25yrs and do not have a non dependent living with you, only the shared LHA rate will be used to calculate how much benefit you are entitled to.
if you are a joint tenant you will qualify for a rate of LHA based on your family unit, inclusive of any non dependents or boarders. However a single claimant, irrespective of age, sharing facilities will only qualify for the shared accommodation rate of LHA. These rates will be used to calculate how much benefit you are entitled to.
The amounts of LHA are provided to Local Authorities from the Rent Service. These amounts are based on Broad Market Rent Areas. To find out more about BMRA's and the Rent Service click here)
How much Local Housing Allowance will I get?
The amounts of Local Housing Allowance will be notified to us by the Rent Service each month. These can be viewed via the link below or direct at the council offices.
Please note
Single under 25 year olds, without any non dependants, will only be entitled to the Room Rate. Singles or couples over 25 will be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate unless they are actually living in shared accommodation - then they will only be entitled to the Room Rate.
You should also be aware that there has been no changes to the Housing Benefit entitlement regulations. The amount of actual benefit you receive will still depend on the money you have coming in, any capital you have and who lives with you.
How will my benefit be paid?
In most cases payment of LHA will be made direct to the tenant and it will be their responsibility to pay the rent to the landlord. The money will be paid direct into bank accounts or by crossed cheque. If you do not already have a bank account you may need to open one. You can find out more information about opening bank accounts here
What if I am unable to manage my own affairs?
If you are unable to manage you affairs we shall try to safefuard your benefit payments. This means that your benefit could be paid to a "third party", for example a son or daughter, who could then pay the rent on your behalf. In certain circumstances the authority can pay benefit direct to the landlord. This can only happen when a professional body has provided proof that a customer is not able to manage their own affairs either through illness/severe learning difficulties or severe debt problems. In these circumstances the authority will require additional information from the customer or from any appointee. Our Safeguard Policy is available to see here
Safeguard Policy (Word Document 195 Kb.)
How do you rate this information / service?