London Housing Benefit

Chris-x1

Hi all,

Been unemployed for a good while in the north of england and thinking of moving back down to London as there seems to be a lot more jobs going there than here. I am currently signing on contributions based jsa which runs out in August. I sign on behalf of myself and my partner and we have a 6 week old baby. I currently get the maximum LHA Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit available for a 2 bedroom house in my area. I also receive child benefit of £20 a week which along with the £100 a week JSA is the sum total of my incomings.

I have been researching houses and flats to move in to in London and am surprised by the LHA allowances for the areas. I have seen a flat for £330 per week in an area the LHA says has a maximum allowance of £340 a week. If I currently qualify for a maximum LHA allowance in my current borough can I assume I will qualify for this flat and start the ball rolling with my move?

Thanks for any help, this just seems like a staggering amount of money for an LHA to front up. Hopefully it won't be for long but even if I see myself getting a job the Housing Benefit would probably have to contribute to the rent I think.

Caz3121

There are a couple of potential problems that may crop up
at £1430 per month you are going to need almost £3k for your deposit and months rent up front
You are going to be in a difficult position with getting a job if it is going to have to cover the rent so you will end up 'better off on benefits'
Do you know if the landlord will accept people on benefits

You should also been getting tax credits for your child as well as the child benefit

Chris-x1

Thanks for the response Caz.

The amount I would have to pay up front would be £2930 including an agency fee,four weeks deposit in advance and four weeks rent in advance. I rang child tax credits yesterday and I am being sent a form out to complete and see if I qualify. It was annoying as I had asked a benefits officer what I would be entitled to with the birth of my baby and they said child benefit only which was bemusing.

I have run the figures through a spreadsheet and if a number of different jobs come through for me I would still need a certain amount of housing benefit to pay my rent should I be successful in my applications. I'm not concerned about this as I think it's better to reduce the housing benefit gradually as my partner will also return to work once the baby is old enough so we would be looking to have dual income of around 40-50k and take ourselves off Benefits completely (aside from tax credits and child benefit). More research actually suggests the area is in an LHA allowance district of £525 per week.

Not sure about the landlord accepting housing benefit but it may be a moot point if I get a job before I actually get things rolling. That said I've noticed a lot of property adverts now openly accepting Housing Benefit....sign of the times maybe? I never claimed any benefits last time I was living and working in London (there for about 7 years) so I was a bit surprised just how much money the local authority was prepared to stretch to and was curious to find out if anyone else could confirm my research.

Regarding being better on benefits then yes, in some cases I really don't see the advantage of putting all the hours in when your take home NET is just a bit more than Benefits. Personally though I would be looking at starting jobs minimum 18k per Annum which would still entitle me to a large amount of housing benefit, going off the current rates, and pay my own council tax.

Chris-x1

Just got back from my signing on interview and I asked my advisor about Child Tax Credit and she informed me it was only for working parents. I told her that a conversation between myself and the HMRC and my own research told me otherwise and she went on to state that I was wasting my time in applying!

This isn't the first time the Advisor's at the jobcentre haven't had the slightest inkling into benefit law. If it isn't in their job description to know this then I'll accept that and go to the people whose job it actually is. What I do object to is being told this information by someone claiming to be informed and then being told not to pursue it on the strength of that informed choice.

I asked what would be the procedure for moving my claim to another Jobcentre (London) and was told that this was entirely possible as was claiming housing benefit on another house. My advisor did say that I would need to provide evidence of where the deposit was gathered should I get new accomodation. This also smelt like garbage information to me as I'm on contributions based jobseekers and entitled to some amount of personal savings.

What kind of training are the advisors undergoing? 10 minute crash course?

welshmoneylover

You are entitled to ctc, but you will only be able to claim wtc once you are working 16+ hours a week.

The JC staff is an idiot. lol.

Caz3121

Have a look here - there is a telephone number too

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/TaxCreditsandChildBenefit/TaxCredits/DG_073939

cattie

£330 per week for a 2 bed flat is a lot in the current climate. What area is the flat in? I imagine it must be very central as in zone 3/4 it's possible to find houses for £700?-£800 per week.

Chris-x1

The flat, and most of the others I have been looking at, is in Zone 2 and falls into the Camden borough. The LHA website, down since yesterday??, states that the house falls into the allowance area of £525 per week for a two bedroom property.

It doesn't seem all that much compared with what I have paid previously in London and to be honest the LHA rate for similar sized properties further out doesn't quite tally with the prices they are advertised at.

My main thought would be that the Camden Housing Association would tell me that the rent is too high....despite it falling £200 short of their maximum allowance. I used to work in this borough and intend to try and pick up some job leads in old employments and via friends in the area so that is principally the reason behind my decision to try for a property in this area.

silvercar

It doesn't seem all that much compared with what I have paid previously in London and to be honest the LHA rate for similar sized properties further out doesn't quite tally with the prices they are advertised at.

Probably because they are not aimed at claimants.

London is a funny area as far as LHA is concerned. In some cases crossing a road can move you into a different area, and the difference in the 2 bed LHA for that area can be as much as £100 a week.

Chris-x1

I would say that this flat isn't advertised with claimants in mind either but as I said it comfortably meets the LHA allowance for the area. I hear what you're saying about the allowances changing by crossing the road as I've got all the maps in .pdf format for the north and northwest boundaries and there really doesn't seem to be a lot of method in the madness.

Chris-x1

I'm due to start a job 25k PA in the next 4 weeks in central London. I am now actively looking for flats in zones 2-3 and have phoned potential housing benefit offices in the boroughs I am looking at. So far all offices have provisionally confirmed that I would get help paying my rent with my circumstances for a two bedroom property provided it was in line with LHA rates.

The old "fair rent" system seems to be regulated by the LHA rates for given areas. Anyone have any experience of this?...and I know this is "thread necromancy" but it seems inappropriate to start a new thread.