Local housing allowance
Summary
Local
Housing Allowance (LHA) is the new name to housing benefit for tenants in privately rented accommodation.
Local Housing Allowance was introduced at this Council on 7th April, 2008.
Downloads
- LHA Rates February 2012 (PDF, 16KB)
- LHA Rates January 2012 (PDF, 16KB)
- Leaflet : Local Housing Allowance – Information for Private Tenants (PDF, 1,219KB)
- Leaflet : Working out your LHA (PDF, 159KB)
- Leaflet : Working out your LHA if you are under 25 (PDF, 156KB)
- Leaflet : LHA tenants who are likely to have difficulty paying their rent (PDF, 155KB)
- Local Housing Allowance Safeguard Procedure (PDF, 60KB)
Further information
What is Local Housing Allowance?
The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is a new way for deciding rent payments for people receiving Housing Benefit (HB). It uses a flat rate allowance based on the size of the tenant’s household and the area in which they rent the property to decide the amount of benefit they will receive. This amount is not directly related to the rent that you are charged so the benefit that you receive may be higher or lower than the contractual rent.
The rate of LHA that you receive will be reviewed on an annual basis.
Local Housing Allowance is not based on the property in which you live, it is based on:
- Who lives with you
- Which area you live in
- How much money you have coming in
- What savings you have
Why was Local Housing Allowance introduced?
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 Housing 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 housing benefit paid to you. It is up to you to pay the landlord.
- You will find out about your benefit more quickly than before
How is my Local Housing Allowance rate calculated?
The Rent Service will provide us with Local Housing Allowance rates each month. There will be a set of rates ranging from a shared 1-room rate up to a 6-room rate. The rate you are entitled to will depend on who lives with you.
How many rooms can you claim for?
This will depend on the number of people who live with you. For example, a single person under 25 will only be entitled to the shared rate LHA. If you are over 25 with or without a partner and you have no children, then you will be entitled to the shared rate if you live in shared accommodation, or the one bedroom rate if you live in self contained accommodation.
For everyone else with children or non-dependants then the LHA is based on the number of bedrooms you are allowed. The size criteria is based solely on the number of bedrooms needed.
One bedroom is allowed for each of the following:
- Every adult couple
- Any other adult, aged 16 or over
- Any two children of the same sex up to 15 years old
- Any two children, regardless of sex, under age 10
- Any other child.
What are the rates of LHA?
The Rent Officer sets the level of LHA every month. The current rates can be downloaded above. LHA is not based upon how much rent is actually charged: if your rent is lower that the weekly LHA, you can keep up to £15 per week of the difference. If your rent is higher than the LHA, the tenant will normally have to pay the extra cost, although in exceptional circumstances there may be extra help available.
Other benefit rules regarding income, capital, members of the household and rent liability apply in the same way to LHA as to housing benefit.
Related pages on this website
External websites
- Local housing allowance Direct
- Frequently asked questions for tenants
- Frequently asked questions for landlords
Contact us
| Officer / Team | Benefits Team |
|---|---|
| Postal address | Blaby District Council Council Offices Desford Road Narborough Leicester LE19 2EP |
| E-mail address | benefits@blaby.gov.uk |
| Telephone | 0116 272 7510 |
| Fax | 0116 272 7591 |
If you need this information in other languages or formats (large print, Braille or audio), please let us know when you contact us.
This page was last updated on 2nd February 2012
How do you rate this information / service?