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From the 7th April 2008 there will be a big change to the way we work out Housing Benefit for those in a private tenancy. For those making a claim on or after the 7th April 2008, help towards rent will be calculated using LHA rates.
Local Housing Allowance is Housing Benefit for people on benefits or low incomes who rent from private landlords. LHA is based on the number of rooms people are allowed and not how much the rent for the property they live in actually is. The number of rooms allowed depends on who lives with the claimant and so depends on the size of their family.
One bedroom required for each of the following
The maximum amount of LHA paid will depend on:
The allowances that will be set by The Rent Service each month will be the maximum amounts, the actual amount of entitlement will depend on income, savings and the claimants circumstances. The claim will be based on the LHA rate for the month the claim is made and will be reviewed every year.
The country has been split into broad market rental areas (BRMA) which are used by the rent service to assess the monthly local housing allowance rates. In Gedling Borough Council there are two broad market rental area: - Nottingham and North Nottingham.
Your postcode determines which BRMA and LHA rate to apply. If your postcode starts NG15 or NG21 you should apply the North Nottingham LHA rates while all other postcodes in the Gedling area will fall under the Nottingham BRMA.
| Nottingham | North Nottingham | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April | Weekly | Monthly | Weekly | Monthly |
| Shared Accomm | £57.69 | £249.99 | £58.15 | £251.98 |
| 1 Bedroom | £98.08 | £425.01 | £80.00 | £346.67 |
| 2 Bedrooms | £114.23 | £495.00 | £98.08 | £425.01 |
| 3 Bedrooms | £126.92 | £549.99 | £114.23 | £495.00 |
| 4 Bedrooms | £167.31 | £725.01 | £155.77 | £675.00 |
| 5 Bedrooms | £190.39 | £825.02 | £201.35 | £872.52 |
| May | Weekly | Monthly | Weekly | Monthly |
| Shared Accomm | £57.69 | £249.99 | £58.15 | £251.98 |
| 1 Bedroom | £98.08 | £425.01 | £80.00 | £346.67 |
| 2 Bedrooms | £114.23 | £495.00 | £98.08 | £425.01 |
| 3 Bedrooms | £126.92 | £549.99 | £114.23 | £495.00 |
| 4 Bedrooms | £167.31 | £725.01 | £155.77 | £675.00 |
| 5 Bedrooms | £190.39 | £825.02 | £201.35 | £872.52 |
| June | Weekly | Monthly | Weekly | Monthly |
| Shared Accomm | £57.69 | £249.99 | £60.00 | £260.00 |
| 1 Bedroom | £98.08 | £425.01 | £79.04 | £342.51 |
| 2 Bedrooms | £114.23 | £495.00 | £98.08 | £425.01 |
| 3 Bedrooms | £126.92 | £549.99 | £114.23 | £495.00 |
| 4 Bedrooms | £173.08 | £750.00 | £154.62 | £670.02 |
| 5 Bedrooms | £197.31 | £855.01 | £207.12 | £897.52 |
| July | Weekly | Monthly | Weekly | Monthly |
| Shared Accomm | £57.69 | £249.99 | £60.00 | £260.00 |
| 1 Bedroom | £98.08 | £425.01 | £79.04 | £342.51 |
| 2 Bedrooms | £114.23 | £495.00 | £98.08 | £425.01 |
| 3 Bedrooms | £126.92 | £549.99 | £114.23 | £495.00 |
| 4 Bedrooms | £173.08 | £750.01 | £150.00 | £650.00 |
| 5 Bedrooms | £210.00 | £910.00 | £207.12 | £897.52 |
| August | Weekly | Monthly | Weekly | Monthly |
| Shared Accomm | £60.00 | £260.00 | £60.00 | £260.00 |
| 1 Bedroom | £98.08 | £425.01 | £80.00 | £346.67 |
| 2 Bedrooms | £114.23 | £495.00 | £98.08 | £425.01 |
| 3 Bedrooms | £126.92 | £549.99 | £114.23 | £495.00 |
| 4 Bedrooms | £173.08 | £750.01 | £150.00 | £650.00 |
| 5 Bedrooms | £219.23 | £950.00 | £206.54 | £895.01 |
| September | Weekly | Monthly | Weekly | Monthly |
| Shared Accomm | £60.00 | £260.00 | £60.00 | £260.00 |
| 1 Bedroom | £98.08 | £425.01 | £78.46 | £339.99 |
| 2 Bedrooms | £114.23 | £495.00 | £98.08 | £425.01 |
| 3 Bedrooms | £126.92 | £549.99 | £114.23 | £495.00 |
| 4 Bedrooms | £173.08 | £750.01 | £150.00 | £650.00 |
| 5 Bedrooms | £219.23 | £950.00 | £207.12 | £897.52 |
| October | Weekly | Monthly | Weekly | Monthly |
| Shared Accomm | £65.00 | £281.65 | £60.00 | £260.00 |
| 1 Bedroom | £97.50 | £422.50 | £77.31 | £335.01 |
| 2 Bedrooms | £111.92 | £484.99 | £98.77 | £428.00 |
| 3 Bedrooms | £126.92 | £549.99 | £113.08 | £490.01 |
| 4 Bedrooms | £173.08 | £750.01 | £155.00 | £672.53 |
| 5 Bedrooms | £210.00 | £910.00 | £207.69 | £899.99 |
Payment of LHA will be different to Housing Benefit. This is because the payment will be made to the claimant in almost all cases. Payment cannot normally be made to the landlord, except in a very small number of cases. These will be where the tenant is vulnerable and unable to manage their rent payments. The policy document gives details where Housing Benefit can be paid direct to the landlord.
If you wish to apply for direct payments to your landlord, please complete the Direct payments application form and provide supporting evidence.
We also intend to pay LHA by Bank Credit Transfer (BACS). This is a more secure way to pay benefit, should help people to budget and will make it easier to pay rent by Direct Debit which many landlords may prefer.
The new rules will not apply to:
The legislation for these changes has only just been made law. As we move nearer to the start of the scheme we will update this website as we make our preparations to introduce this new form of Housing Benefit.
If you want to find out more now, you can find further information at the Department for Work and Pensions website and at The Rent Service website.
For further information please contact our Customer Services on 0115 9013970 and down load the Local Housing Allowance leaflet.
Department of Works and Pensions.
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