Housing benefit rise inline with rent rise?

relhuk

Hi All,
Ill try to keep this brief. I receive housing benefit (£170/month.).I'm renting privately and received notice that the landlord wants to sell house which wasnt too suprising as its been on market. I really need a 4 bed house with 4 kids (one infant) so it kind of limits my choice as to house/rent/area etc.
Anyhow my question is this - If I rent a house that has a higher rent per month could I request/expect the HB to increase accordingly? (No other change of circumstances otherwise)
thank you
Richard

AnxiousMum

How old and what sexes are your children? You can check to see what you would qualify for through your LEA - will tell you if you even qualify for the rents on a four bed house or not, what the local rate is, and then you will know what you can afford based on the benefit received as well as your own input to it. I have five kids....doesn't mean I would be entitled to a 6 bedroom house if I was receiving hb.

Fiver29

Why do you need a 4 bedroom house. My family had 4 children (3+1) and we had a 3 bed house, my sister's family are exactly the same and they have a 3 bed. What's wrong with sharing?

enabledebra

Housing benefit is no longer directly related to the rent you pay in most private rented claims. The maximum they will take into account is now set by Local Housing Allowance Rates for the size of property your household needs and general rent levels in your locality for that property size (they decide what this level is). You can find out your LHA here:

https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/LHARateSearch.aspx?SearchType=PostCode

You can keep up to £15 of the difference between your rent LHA maximum if you can find accommodation cheap enough (I've never come across someone who has managed to do this, the LHA rates are usually below typical rent levels in reality and there are plans to scrap this 'shopping incentive' in any case)

enabledebra

ps forgot to add you can find out how many bedrooms they will accept that you need here
https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/LHASearchIntro.aspx

you can rent a larger property but your HB will be restricted to the LHA for the property size they decide you need.

relhuk

With the greatest of respect - Why do some people on this seem to instantly find an opportunity for finger wagging?
I thought it was a straight forward enough question with a 50/50 answer.
4 kids + 2 adults = 6 bodies. ( 2 middle kids already share). Given the choice with your 3+1 if you could afford it - would you go for a 3 bed or 4 bed? ( another 50/50 question).

My children are 1,8,11 and 15. The youngest is the only boy. I'm PRIVATELY RENTING a 4 bed house at the moment and receiving supplemental housing benefit. I only work 21 hours.

I could go for a council house but I don't need to. I could resign and claim benefits all of my life but I wont.

Yes they could share but we neither want or need to I'm trying to continue to rent privately.There is a waiting list forever for a 4 bedroom house with my local housing body. Does anyone know the answer to the original question?
many thanks for your help.

AnxiousMum

With the greatest respect back to you - your original questio was answered by giving you a link in posts 3 and 4. In that website, you can find out what local housing rate you will be awarded on based on what size house they figure you need. They will only give you the local rate the size of a house which you qualify for. As we don't know what local authority you reside in, unfortunately, we can't go in and put the figures for you - but you have been given the link to go check it out.

relhuk

Thank you enabledebra for the concise reply.The answer is no I do not.

Fiver29

relhuk wrote: »

With the greatest of respect - Why do some people on this seem to instantly find an opportunity for finger wagging?
I thought it was a straight forward enough question with a 50/50 answer.
4 kids + 2 adults = 6 bodies. ( 2 middle kids already share). Given the choice with your 3+1 if you could afford it - would you go for a 3 bed or 4 bed? ( another 50/50 question).

My children are 1,8,11 and 15. The youngest is the only boy. I'm PRIVATELY RENTING a 4 bed house at the moment and receiving supplemental housing benefit. I only work 21 hours.

I could go for a council house but I don't need to. I could resign and claim benefits all of my life but I wont.

Yes they could share but we neither want or need to I'm trying to continue to rent privately.There is a waiting list forever for a 4 bedroom house with my local housing body. Does anyone know the answer to the original question?
many thanks for your help.

You've already said you can't afford it because you get HB, and because you don't want to share the tax payer is footing the bill.

welshmoneylover

relhuk wrote: »

With the greatest of respect - Why do some people on this seem to instantly find an opportunity for finger wagging?
I thought it was a straight forward enough question with a 50/50 answer.
4 kids + 2 adults = 6 bodies. ( 2 middle kids already share). Given the choice with your 3+1 if you could afford it - would you go for a 3 bed or 4 bed? ( another 50/50 question).

My children are 1,8,11 and 15. The youngest is the only boy. I'm PRIVATELY RENTING a 4 bed house at the moment and receiving supplemental housing benefit. I only work 21 hours.

I could go for a council house but I don't need to. I could resign and claim benefits all of my life but I wont.

Yes they could share but we neither want or need to I'm trying to continue to rent privately.There is a waiting list forever for a 4 bedroom house with my local housing body. Does anyone know the answer to the original question?
many thanks for your help.

With the greatest respect - why don't you work more hours so you can pay your own rent without relying on the tax payer to pay for your kids?

21 hours isn't enough, crikey there are parents who can only afford 1 or 2 child/ren and both parents work full time in order to pay their housing costs/bills.

Can't you do the same?

silvercar

My children are 1,8,11 and 15. The youngest is the only boy

That would entitle you to the LHA rate for a 3 bed property. The 11 and 15 year old would be expected to share as they are of the same sex, the younger two children would also be expected to share. However as soon as your eldest child is 16 your entitlement would increase to a 4 bed LHA rate.

Your choice on accommodation, but if you could afford to top up the LHA rate while you are only entitled to a 3 bed, you could get a 4 bed in the knowledge that your rate will increase in the year.