Housing benefit Cuts from April 2011

laalay

Hi everyone,

I have just read the articles saying that the planned cuts to housing benefit will be postponed for 9 months for existing claimants. Is it just a rumour or is it true?

I am currently receiving housing benefit for a 2 bedroom flat in Westminster. My contract runs out in April 2011 and I would like to renew it for another year. But does this make me a 'new claimant' when handing in a new contract or will I still be an existing claimant?

I phoned the housing benefit helpline a couple of times, but they say they don't have much information themselves.

Are there any useful threads on this in the forum? I tried the search option, but could not find much.

Also, the newspapers say that the cap for 2 bedroom flats will be at £290. Which area are they talking about? Or does the area not matter anymore from then and this cap is for all areas?

It seems very hard to find something in Westminster for that price, but I would be happy to move to another area, as it is easily possible to find something for £290 in cheaper areas. I'm just worried that in cheaper areas the cap will be at much less than £290. Does anybody know about this?

I couldn't find any information regarding the cap amount of different areas, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much

Blobby8_2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11880383

laalay

Thanks for your speedy reply. I've read this one, but what I was wondering is if it is 'for sure' or can they still change their mind on delaying the date?

Gingerbiscuit_2

I doubt very much if they will change their minds, to be honest if you are going to have to pay X amount towards your rent and not going to be able to do this, it would make sense to start looking sooner rather than later. And yes the cap is the same if you live in westiminster or a rural village.

If you can see that in the future your circumstances are likely to change then maybe easeir to hang on, however if you are likely to need housing benefit in the long term and going to be faced with paying the extra there are going to be so many people in the same boat it would make sense to start looking sooner rather than later. If you wait the year until you are affected you may find yourself much less likely to find a place you can rent near where you are at the moment as the cheaper housing will be taken up by those who are affected first.

I know its not cheap I also live in London though rent from housing association so it is much less than private. Although many people are hoping that landords will be flexable with their rent I woulnt bet on it, I m sure many people are going have to face decisions about where they live. Good luck

fluffymovie

It's definitely going ahead.

A new tenancy doesn't make you a new claimant though so your HB will reduce on the anniversary of your claim date.

The cap will apply nationwide and will mainly affect those in London like yourself.

There is a recent HB circular which if you google HB circulars 2010 will answer some of your queries. A25 I think

hobbledehoy.

Hello
This isn't just affecting London. Here in the South, private rents for a 3 bed property average £850pm, whereas the current LHA rate is £150pw (£650pm). At the moment the average top up amount out of other benefits/income is £200pm.

Private rents have been steadilly increasing over the past 3/4 years. in 2006 the same property was rented out for £675pm. The reason being is supply and demand!

This thought that landlords will reduce their rents is not really going to work out as there are more than enough that are willing to pay the going rate, leaving those that rely on Housing Benefit out in the cold.

There has been the intention locally for more houses to be built and now they are talking about building low cost properties (upwards of 200 units) instead. The existing properties that surround this area are mainly 4/5/6 bed detached with values of up to £1m.
As you can imagine there has and still is a lot of bad feeling about this happening. So much so, that they are calling for a public enquiry over the planning permission.
Surely, better quality properties should be built, but on the other hand make mortgages easier to obtain - maybe from the Council as they used to do many years ago.

This way, it will reduce the number of potential renters available and thus put pressure on the landlords to reduce rents to the new LHA rates.

Sixer

OP - my understanding is that there will be a transition period of 6 or 9 months after April 2011 for existing claimants before the HB amount actually goes down, presumably to allow for relocation time? I'm sure the circulars fluffymovie spoke of will include this info.

Blobby8_2

Gingerbiscuit wrote: »

If you wait the year until you are affected you may find yourself much less likely to find a place you can rent near where you are at the moment as the cheaper housing will be taken up by those who are affected first.
Good luck

That strikes me as very good advice

laalay

Thanks very much everyone for their reply, especially to fluffymovie for the advice on the circulars, the A25 one was great and gave me so much information- I didn't even know that those circulars exist! Thanks a lot!! :j



I picked out some main points:

The changes will normally apply to existing customers from the anniversary of their claim but they could apply sooner if there is a change in the size of their household that affects the size of dwelling to which they are entitled or if they move. However, existing customers can get transitional protection for a further nine months from the date that that the changes apply to them under a new HB regulation 12M inserted by amendment Regulations 2(5) and 3(5) (see paragraphs 24-29). However, the transitional protection will not apply to the loss of the £15 excess.

Regulations 2(5) and 3(5) of the HB Amendment Regulations 2010 insert new regulation 12M which provides up to nine months transitional protection to existing customers who see a reduction in their eligible rent. The transitional protection will apply to customers
who have their eligible rent determined by reference to the maximum rent (LHA) immediately before 1 April 2011, and
who have a new maximum rent (LHA) determined on or after the 1 April 2011 either because they
- become entitled to a larger category of dwelling (HB regulation13C(2)(d)(i)), or
- have reached their anniversary date

and the new maximum rent (LHA) determined on or after the 1 April 2011 is lower than the eligible rent which applied immediately before 1 April 2011.
25 In these cases the eligible rent will either be the eligible rent which applied immediately before 1 April 2011 or, if the customer previously had an excess, the amount of the contractual/cap rent3 which was used in the determination of the maximum rent (LHA) on or after 1 April 2011.



I hope that helps others too!

The anniversary date of my claim is in March. I am not sure if I understood correctly, but does that mean that when they reassess my claim in March 2011, they still use the 'old' rates for the calculation (as the changes will only come into place from the 1st of April 2011) and only in March 2012 they will apply the new rates, plus from March 2012 I will have another 9 months of transitional period? E.g. my rent will only be cut in December 2012?

Sounds too good to be true....

murtle1981

So how could this HB/LHA effect us? Were council tenants, have been since August 09 and get LHA. Is there a chance that we could have to pay X amount towards our rent in the future?

welshmoneylover

murtle1981 wrote: »

So how could this HB/LHA effect us? Were council tenants, have been since August 09 and get LHA. Is there a chance that we could have to pay X amount towards our rent in the future?

We need more info hun such as your circumstances, how much rent you pay and how much LHA you receive.