Properties costing more than LHA rates

CHARDONNAY_3

Due to personal circs I'm having to move out of my mums house & look for a rental proerty. As I'm currently in receipt of JSA, im struggling to find a LL who will accept LHA.

I've managed to find 1 or 2 but properties are 450 a month & I'm only entitled to 410 a month. Is it still worth viewing them? Could I apply for LHA & top up the rest myself? Or would council expect me to find a lower cost property? I'm only entitled to 1 bed rate but is it poss to apply for a 2 bed flat or house (as this is all thats available) or am I only allowed to live in a 1 bed flat?

Also how long do claims take to process? Do I apply now, then view properties or do I have to find a property first then apply?

Sorry for all the questions

Thank you

geoff11

when you apply you give them the property details, usually a fair rent officer looks at the property and evalutes if its worth what theyre charging, if they deem it isnt you would need to make the shortfall up yourself. you can view any property you like the council dont care theyll only pay what the rent officer says it worth, you make the difference up so look away. the process time is hard to say i suppose it varies from each housing association, usually two weeks to a month as far as im aware.

Perr

As you are on your own you would only get the 1 bedroom rate if you are under 25 you will get even less enough for a bedsit or room in a shared house.

CHARDONNAY_3

I'm over 25 & have looked on my council's website & found out what my LHA rate is, as stated in my 1st post.

I'm just worried about commiting to a property (paying deposit, admin fees etc) then not being able to claim for the rent.

geoff11

why not just ring your local lha and ask if you qualify, they can tell you roughly how much your entitled to say on a property with rent of £450 pcm, they can do this over the phone, of course its down to the fair rent officer when you go for a property but at least youll have an idea.

Oldernotwiser

geoff11 wrote: »

when you apply you give them the property details, usually a fair rent officer looks at the property and evalutes if its worth what theyre charging, if they deem it isnt you would need to make the shortfall up yourself. you can view any property you like the council dont care theyll only pay what the rent officer says it worth, you make the difference up so look away. the process time is hard to say i suppose it varies from each housing association, usually two weeks to a month as far as im aware.

There's no such thing as a Fair Rent Officer anymore - the process you describe is years out of date!

The OP will be eligible for the applicable rate (1 bed if he's single and over 25) and can top this up himself for a dearer or larger property, if he feels he can afford it out of his other benefits.

geoff11

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

There's no such thing as a Fair Rent Officer anymore - the process you describe is years out of date!

The OP will be eligible for the applicable rate (1 bed if he's single and over 25) and can top this up himself for a dearer or larger property, if he feels he can afford it out of his other benefits.

is it?, i had one to come to me two years ago havent moved since though lol

April84

Why dont you just pay that extra £10 per week out of your jsa??

You could apply for discretionary housing payments,
but because its only £40 per month gap they wouldnt give you it as would tell you to just pay £10 per week from your JSA for it.

fluffymovie

Oldernotwiser is correct in as much as LHA came in April 2008 and removed the need for Rent Officers.

However, claimants who were and still are in receipt of HB under the old scheme remain subject to the Rent Officer (now part of the Valuation Officer).

Unless the Govt decide to move over all HB claims to LHA (which they did with some pathfinders), these claimants will remain on the old scheme and a rent officer will decide a fair rent each 52 weeks

If you decided to rent somewhere for more than the LHA rate, this is fine but you would need to look at your income to see if you would be able to find the shortfall. Also, most tenancy's seem to be for 6 months and your landlord might want to increase the rent at the time of a renewal but the LHA rate remains in force for 52 weeks regardless (there are some exceptions but I won't got into them unless needed)

fluffymovie

Also, it is unlikely that a DHP would be awarded if you knew that the property was more than the LHA rate at the time you moved in but decided to anyway.

Oldernotwiser

fluffymovie wrote: »

Oldernotwiser is correct in as much as LHA came in April 2008 and removed the need for Rent Officers.

However, claimants who were and still are in receipt of HB under the old scheme remain subject to the Rent Officer (now part of the Valuation Officer).

Unless the Govt decide to move over all HB claims to LHA (which they did with some pathfinders), these claimants will remain on the old scheme and a rent officer will decide a fair rent each 52 weeks

Thanks for the clarification; I hadn't realised that some people were still on the old scheme.