Local Housing
Allowance
Private tenants who claim Housing
Benefit, or existing claimants who move address and rent privately,
will have their Housing Benefit worked out using the Local Housing
Allowance (LHA).
Important information
Do you have a tenant aged 25 to 34 who lives alone or are you
thinking of renting private accommodation to a tenant aged 25 to
34?
The government is making a change to the way Housing Benefit is
calculated for single people aged 25 to 34, living alone and
renting private accommodation.
Please
read about this important change to Housing Benefit, which
could affect your tenant from 1 January 2012.
The LHA represents average local rents for properties of a certain
size.
Details of the various LHA rates are available here.
In working out the LHA, we will look at the size of the claimant's
household and whether they share their present accommodation. We
describe this more on
our Working out the Local Housing Allowance page.
The LHA determines the maximum Housing Benefit someone can receive,
but the amount they actually get will depend on things like income
and savings, the claimant's personal circumstances and those of
people living with them.
Who is affected by the LHA?
Local Housing Allowance affects:
- Private tenants who make a new claim for housing benefit
- Existing claimants who have a change of address and move to a
private tenancy
- Existing claimants who have a break in their Housing Benefit
claim after 7 April 2008
Who is not affected by the LHA?
The Local Housing Allowance does not affect the following
tenants:
- Council tenants
- Tenants with registered social landlords
- Protected cases, such as supported housing provided by a local
authority, a social landlord, or certain charities and voluntary
organisations
- Tenancies which commenced before January 1989
- Tenancies for caravans, houseboats and hostels
- Tenancies where board and attendance is a substantial part of
the rent
How are LHA rates set?
LHA rates are set by the Rent Service each month and are
available on this website, at our local service centres and in
Newham Magazine.
Paying Housing Benefit under the LHA
Unlike other private tenants, people affected by the LHA cannot
simply ask us to pay their landlord. We will normally pay tenants,
paying landlords only in specific circumstances.