Local Housing Allowance

From the 7th April 2008 claims for Housing Benefit will have their entitlement worked out using Local Housing Allowance (LHA).

Who will be affected?

• Private tenants making a new claim for Housing Benefit
• Claimants in privately rented accommodation who have a break in their existing claim for benefit.
• Existing claimants who change address to a private tenancy

Who will not be affected?

• Your landlord is a Housing Association.
• You rent from the Local Authority.
• Your rent has been registered as a "fair rent"
• Your tenancy started before 1989.
• Your tenancy includes the provision of care, support or supervision and is provided by local authorities, social landlords, charities or voluntary organisations.
• Your accommodation is a caravan, mobile home or houseboat.
• If your rent includes a substantial amount for board and attendance (e.g. private hostel accommodation) LHA may not apply. This will be decided by the Rent Officer (link to RO Website)

How is LHA worked out?
How much LHA you may get depends on:
Who lives with you and which area you live in.

The number of rooms you need
The LHA is a flat rate housing allowance and the number of people who live with you will be used to work out how many bedrooms you need.
One bedroom is allowed for:

• every adult couple
• any other adult aged 16 or over
• any two children regardless of sex aged under age 10
• any two children of the same sex aged under 16
• Any other child.

The number of other rooms is ignored for this purpose as all tenants are entitled to these.

Please see the Rent Service Website for more information and a bedroom calculator.

The area you live in
Each local council will be divided into areas (Broad Rental Market Areas) by the Rent Service. In North Norfolk there will be 2 Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMA). To locate which area you are in you will need to know the postcode of the property.

LHA will pay the same amount wherever you live in your area, not the actual rent paid for the property.
This means that tenants with the same circumstances will be entitled to the same rate of LHA. It is intended that tenants will then have the choice to trade between quality and price in their accommodation.

For example, if the actual rent is less than the LHA for the type of property the tenant needs, the tenant will be able to keep the extra money up to a maximum of £15 per week. However, if the actual rent charged is greater than the LHA, the tenant will have to pay the difference to the landlord.

How much LHA will I get?
There are no changes to the Housing Benefit entitlement rules; this is still based on a person's financial circumstances and proof of a valid tenancy agreement.
LHA is the maximum benefit you can receive towards your rent, the amount you will receive still depends on the money you have coming in each week, what savings you have and who else lives with you.

The rates are displayed at the bottom of the page.

Single Persons aged under 25 years
A single person aged under 25 years, who does not have a non-dependant living with them, will be entitled to the standard rate of Local Housing Allowance for a room in shared accommodation. However, this will be based on a more generous definition than the original Single Room Rent, which limits Housing Benefit entitlement to the rate for a room in shared accommodation. The new rate will be based on properties where the tenant has the exclusive use of only one bedroom and the tenancy provides for the tenant to share the use of one or more of a:

• Kitchen
• Bathroom
• Toilet
• Room suitable for living in.

A severely disabled person under 25 years and a care leaver under 22 years will be entitled to the Local Housing Allowance rate for a one bed roomed self-contained property, provided they rent a property of at least that size. For those who qualify for a severe disability premium, they will qualify for the one room rate regardless of the size of their accommodation.


How is it paid?
In most cases payment of LHA will be made direct to the tenant and it will be the tenant's responsibility to pay the rent to the landlord. LHA will be paid direct into bank accounts. This means you will need to open a bank account if you do not have one already. For more information on Basic Bank Accounts please visit the FSA website www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk

Which Broad Rental Market Area is your property in?

Two Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMAs) cover North Norfolk; King's Lynn and Norwich., with the boundary running roughly from Kelling in the north through Letheringsett, Swanton Novers and Wood Norton to Guist and North Elmham in the south of the District.

If you are unsure which BRMA your property is in, you can find out by entering your postcode in the LHA Online Search.

Once you know the Broad Rental Market Area your property is in, the table below shows the weekly amount of LHA that applies in that area.

Local Housing Allowance November 2008

Number of Bedrooms	Category	Weekly Amount	Monthly Amount	Weekly Amount	Monthly Amount
		Central Norwich Area	Central Norwich Area	King's Lynn Area	King's Lynn Area
1 bedroom or shared accommodation	A	£57.69	£249.99	£64.00	£277.33
1 bedroom NOT shared facilities	B	£98.08	£425.01	£91.15	£394.98
2 rooms	C	£121.15	£524.98	£115.38	£499.98
3 rooms	D	£137.31	£595.01	£132.69	£574.99
4 rooms	E	£184.62	£800.02	£178.85	£775.02
5 rooms	F	£230.77	£1000.00	£276.92	£1199.99

Local Housing Allowance October 2008

Number of Bedrooms	Category	Weekly Amount	Monthly Amount	Weekly Amount	Monthly Amount
		Central Norwich Area	Central Norwich Area	King's Lynn Area	King's Lynn Area
1 bedroom or shared accommodation	A	£60.00	£260.00	£64.00	£277.33
1 bedroom NOT shared facilities	B	£98.08	£425.01	£91.15	£394.98
2 rooms	C	£121.15	£524.98	£115.38	£499.98
3 rooms	D	£137.31	£595.01	£132.69	£574.99
4 rooms	E	£184.62	£800.02	£178.85	£775.02
5 rooms	F	£230.77	£1000.00	£276.92	£1199.99

Local Housing Allowance September 2008

Number of Bedrooms	Category	Weekly Amount	Monthly Amount	Weekly Amount	Monthly Amount
		Central Norwich Area	Central Norwich Area	King's Lynn Area	King's Lynn Area
1 bedroom or shared accommodation	A	£66.00	£286.00	£64.00	£277.33
1 bedroom NOT shared facilities	B	£98.08	£425.01	£91.15	£394.98
2 rooms	C	£121.15	£524.98	£115.38	£499.98
3 rooms	D	£137.31	£595.01	£132.69	£574.99
4 rooms	E	£184.62	£800.02	£178.85	£775.02
5 rooms	F	£222.12	£962.52	£276.92	£1199.99

Local Housing Allowance August 2008

Number of Bedrooms	Category	Weekly Amount	Monthly Amount	Weekly Amount	Monthly Amount
		Norwich Broad Rental Market Area	Norwich Broad Rental Market Area	King's Lynn Broad Rental Market Area	King's Lynn Broad Rental Market Area
1 bedroom or shared accommodation	A	£66.00	£286.00	£64.00	£277.33
1 bedroom NOT shared facilities	B	£98.08	£425.01	£91.15	£394.98
2 rooms	C	£121.15	£524.98	£115.38	£499.98
3 rooms	D	£137.31	£595.01	£132.69	£574.99
4 rooms	E	£184.62	£800.02	£178.85	£775.02
5 rooms	F	£222.12	£962.52	£276.92	£1199.99

Local Housing Allowance July 2008

Number of Bedrooms	Category	Weekly Amount	Weekly Amount
		Central Area Norwich	King's Lynn Broad Rental Market Area
1 bedroom or shared accommodation	A	£64.00	£64.00
1 bedroom NOT shared facilities	B	£98.08	£91.15
2 rooms	C	£121.15	£115.38
3 rooms	D	£137.31	£132.69
4 rooms	E	£184.62	£178.85
5 rooms	F	£227.89	£276.92

Local Housing Allowance June 2008

Number of Bedrooms	Category	Weekly Amount	Weekly Amount
		Central Area Norwich	King's Lynn Broad Rental Market Area
1 bedroom or shared accommodation	A	£69.00	£64.00
1 bedroom NOT shared facilities	B	£98.08	£91.15
2 rooms	C	£120.00	£114.23
3 rooms	D	£137.31	£132.69
4 rooms	E	£184.62	£173.08
5 rooms	F	£227.89	£279.81

Need more information?
Get advice leaflets at http://www.benefit-leaflets.org/leaflets.asp
Or visit the Department of Works and Pensions website http://www.dwp.gov.uk/housingbenefit/lha/