Housing benefit

tweetyshells

Hi please can someone advise me how housing benefit works now.
I know it has changed since we needed to claim it so any help would be appreciated.

My mum rents a 2 bed house from a housing association which she now lives in on her own.
If my mum gets into the situation where she can only work part time and needs help paying the rent will she be penalised for having a spare room? If so is it likely to be alot?

Ditzy_2

Housing Association rents do not come under LHA (local housing allowance) and depending on income should not be penalized for an extra room.

[Deleted User]

Afraid thats not quite how it works,my sons family has a "spare"room and they loose some H/B because of this,not alot but some and they are on I/S

[Deleted User]

woodbine wrote: »

Afraid thats not quite how it works,my sons family has a "spare"room and they loose some H/B because of this,not alot but some and they are on I/S

As the earlier poster says, HA properties are not covered by LHA. There is no 'penalty' for having a 'spare room'

[Deleted User]

charles_w wrote: »

As the earlier poster says, HA properties are not covered by LHA. There is no 'penalty' for having a 'spare room'

I`m fully aware that HA and council property dont come under the LHA as they are deemed to be at a fair rent anyway,however they do come under H/B and deductions can be made for spare room,the OP was asking about HA so what i said stands

real1314

woodbine wrote: »

I`m fully aware that HA and council property dont come under the LHA as they are deemed to be at a fair rent anyway,however the do come under H/B and deductions can be made for spare room,the OP was asking about HA so what i said stands

No, this is wrong. The only facility within HB to look at the number of rooms a property has is through a rent officer decision, and even then, it's not really the number of rooms the property has so much as the number of rooms the HB applicant needs for their family.
Rent Officer decisions are not applied to HA cases, nor to Local Authority housing, in the same way as LHA.
Whatever is going on in your son's case is not due to having a "spare" room. Does anyone outside your son's family use this room by any chance?

simone83

Think there may be a confusion between a deduction for a non-dep living with someone on benefit and a spare room.

As long as your mum is on her own then she will get H/B based on the rent she pays. If somone else live with her then a non dep deduction may apply.

Think this is what Woodbine may be think of.

For private tenants the LHA rate is worked out for the number of bedrooms needed. So if you have 2 and need 3, you get the 3 room rate. But if you have 3 and only need 2 - you get the 2 rate.

tweetyshells

yes my mum lives on her own in the 2 bed housing association house and now i am confused as some say yes and some say no lol

simone83

Its fine, the whole thing is confusing. It changed recently from housing benefit to LHA (local housing allowance), but this wont effect you mum as LHA is for private tenants only.

LA / HA tenants are protected as there rent is deemed as fair anyway, so the number of rooms she has doesnt matter. If you go onto your local councils website they should have a calculator on their and then you can put in your mums details / possible new income and it will tell you if she is entitled.

Has your Mum has a recent benefit check? could working tax be a possiblity?

you could check their site too. Godd luck.

mr.skint_5

tweetyshells wrote: »

Hi please can someone advise me how housing benefit works now.
I know it has changed since we needed to claim it so any help would be appreciated.

My mum rents a 2 bed house from a housing association which she now lives in on her own.
If my mum gets into the situation where she can only work part time and needs help paying the rent will she be penalised for having a spare room? If so is it likely to be alot?

housing benefits the only experience i have had with them is the want nothing ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS photo copys are NOT exeptable:mad:

tweetyshells

simone83 wrote: »

Has your Mum has a recent benefit check? could working tax be a possiblity?

you could check their site too. Godd luck.

Mum doesnt claim anything at the moment, she works fulltime albeit for min wage.
I will have a look at councils website thanks.