Will renting a 3bed when I only need a 2 bed affect my housing benefit?

Ragtimeplayer

I am looking to rent a house for myself to escape a bad partnership and my son will be visiting me there but not moving in with me, but I will need a minimum of 2 bedrooms for when he stays over which will probably be about twice a week.

I plan on claiming housing benefit and am going to look at a 3 bedroom house tomorrow as thats all I can find in my area thats suitable.

Will this have an adverse effect on my claim?

chickmug

You would be better posting this on the benefits board?

poppysarah

Look up your LHA for postcode. Work out how many rooms you're allowed.
https://lha-direct.therentservice.gov.uk/Secure/LHARateSearch.aspx?SearchType=PostCode

That'll tell you how much rent they'll pay for you.
Find somewhere under that amount.

Apply for council if you haven't already

Ragtimeplayer

Thanks for your reply but I read on another post that I might not get any LHA if i rent a house bigger than my needs, is this true and can you only rent a 2 bed if there are 2 of you?

poppysarah

It should be based on the amount of money - does it have any help on the LHA site I linked to?
Over to benefits board if not.

barnaby-bear

Ragtimeplayer wrote: »

Thanks for your reply but I read on another post that I might not get any LHA if i rent a house bigger than my needs, is this true and can you only rent a 2 bed if there are 2 of you?

Really post here, they know more.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=139

It's possible your assessed need will be one-bed only as the kid will not be living there most of the time and they don't usually count access / weekend visits. It's complicated.

ladylumps45

we got a 3 bed house but according to the local housing allowance we only needed 2 beds.we felt we should get a 3 bed as my daughters are 12yrs and 10 months old and having them share a room wouldnt have been practical as my daughter needs quiet time to study and having a baby in her room would be a nightmare so we got a 3 bed house.we still got the local housing allowance but only at the rate of a 2 bed.we have to make up the rest which is fair enough.

clutton_2

if you are the only person living in a property full time you will only get housing allowance for a one bedroomed property. you will get a fixed sum - you then shop around to see what you can rent for that money.