Council Tax & Housing Benefit

Local Housing Allowance (LHA)

What is different about Local Housing Allowance

Under the current rules, most private tenants claiming Housing Benefit have their rent assessed by the rent officer who decides what level of rent is used in each case. This can be the same as the rent a person is charged by their landlord or sometimes it can be set at a level less than the landlord charges.

With LHA you will know before you find somewhere to live, how much help with your rent you might get. By knowing how much you might get, it will be easier for you to decide what type of property you can afford.

If your rent is up to £15 lower than the LHA rate that applies to you, any benefit you might get will still be based on this rate. For example, if your rent is £90 per week and the LHA is £100, then the maximum amount of benefit we could pay you would be £100. This will not affect any other social security benefits you get.

How many rooms am I allowed?

You are allowed one bedroom for -

each adult couple
any other adult (aged 16 or over)
any two children under 10, regardless of their sex
any two children of the same sex aged 10 to 15
or for any other child

Different rules apply for foster children, under 25’s and joint tenants. When determining your LHA rate we will have to decide who is responsible for any non-dependants living in the household.

Household	Bedrooms	Total rooms	LHA
Family A - couple with one child	1 room for a couple 1 room for a child	2	2 room LHA
Family B couple with 1 girl aged 8 and 1 boy aged 11	1 room for a couple 1 room for a girl younger than 10 1 room for a boy older than 10	3	3 room LHA
Family C - couple with 1 girl aged 6, 1 boy aged 12 and 1 girl aged 16	1 room for a couple 1 room for a girl younger than 10 1 room for a boy older than 10 1 room for a girl older than 15	4	4 room LHA

Family B is entitled to three bedrooms. If they rent a property with two bedrooms, their benefit will still be worked out using the 3 room LHA rate.

In some cases, there are extra rules - these are looked at below:

If you are under 25

If you:

are aged under 25
are single
live alone
are not severely disabled
are not a care leaver aged under 22

your benefit will be based on the LHA shared room rate regardless of the size of accommodation that you occupy.

If you are a care leaver aged under 22

If you:

are a care leaver aged under 22
or live with a care leaver aged under 22 who is your partner
and you have no dependent children living with you

your benefit will be based on the one bedroom LHA rate.

By 'care leaver' we mean someone who was in council care after the age of 15. For more information about what we mean by care leavers, please contact us.

Once a care leaver reaches the age of 22, the shared room LHA rate applies.

If you are part of a couple, or are single over 25, with no dependent children

If you:

are part of a couple
or are single aged 25 or over
and you have no dependent children living with you

your benefit will be based on the one bedroom LHA rate, provided you actually live in self-contained accommodation or you live in shared accommodation, but have sole use of two (or more) rooms.

However, if you live in accommodation where you share facilities with other people, and have sole use of one room only, your benefit will be based on the shared room LHA rate.

If you are single and severely disabled or part of a couple and you are severely disabled

If you:

are single and severely disabled

are severely disabled
and live with a severely disabled partner
and have no dependent children

your benefit will be based on the one bedroom LHA rate regardless of the size of accommodation that you occupy. By severely disabled we mean that you have the Severe Disability Premium included in your benefit assessment.

The Severe Disability Premium can only be awarded if:

you are single
and you receive Attendance Allowance (AA) or the middle or higher rate Disability Living Allowance (DLA) care component
and you live alone
and no one is entitled to and in receipt of Carer’s Allowance (CA) for looking after you,

you are a member of a couple and you both receive AA or the middle or higher rate DLA care component, or
you are a member of a couple and one partner receives AA or the middle or higher rate DLA care component
and the other partner is blind
and you and your partner live alone
and no-one is entitled to and in receipt of CA for looking after either of you

If you have non-dependants

If you have any non-dependants living with you (for example grown-up children, parents or other relatives or friends) your benefit may be reduced depending on your and your non-dependant’s circumstances.

This is because they are expected to contribute towards your rent.

If you are a joint tenant

If you are a joint tenant (with someone other than your partner) your benefit will be based on the LHA rate solely applicable to your family, plus your non-dependants, sub-tenants or boarders.

If you are a joint tenant and have a shared non-dependant, you will have the non-dependant counted for the size criteria, but only have a shared non-dependant deduction.

Example 1:

Adrian and Bob are joint tenants, living with Charlie, Bob’s father

Bob will be entitled to the two-bedroom LHA rate because Charlie is classed as only his non-dependant and is counted in the number of bedrooms Bob needs. Bob’s LHA rate is then reduced by the whole of the non-dependant deduction.

Adrian is classed as a single person living in shared accommodation and is only entitled to the shared LHA rate but without a non-dependant deduction.

Example 2:

John and Alex are brothers and jointly rent a property. Their father, Peter, also lives with them.

John and Alex will both be entitled to the two-bedroom LHA rate. This is because their father, Peter, is counted in each of the size criteria calculations. However the non-dependant deduction is shared between them as the non-dependant is shared.

E-mail: revenues@dover.gov.uk