Any Housing Benefit Experts?

jacnorm

We live in private rented accomodation and pretty soon a family member is going to move out leaving us with a spare room, I need to know how much they will deduct from the housing benefit once we are no longer in need of the extra bedroom. I have tried to find out but the housing office were not much help just saying the deductions are not that much, but not much to them may be very different to us. Thanks Jacqui

Aarons_mummy

It depends how many of you are in the property, your local rates of LHA and any income you all have.

https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/LHASearchIntro.aspx

The link will tell you your maximum allowance for your area according to your needs.

Alleycat

You will only be able to claim the LHA rate for the amount of bedrooms your household needs. So if you are under occupying, your LHA will be reduced accordingly. You can find out what the LHA rate is for the amount of bedrooms you need via your local council website or using the link the previous poster has included.

How many occupants will be remaining, their ages and relationship?

donnabooth

I live in private rented accom and have claimed housing benefit towards the cost of my rent, my house is three bedroon even though there is only myself and my daughter who live in the property, I wuldnt of thought that you would have an issue with having a bedroom that is not used. I was told that as long as the benefits agancy feel that a fair rent is being asked of for the type and size of the property then it would not be a problem as to how many bedrooms there are.

Pigletto

donnabooth wrote: »

I live in private rented accom and have claimed housing benefit towards the cost of my rent, my house is three bedroon even though there is only myself and my daughter who live in the property, I wuldnt of thought that you would have an issue with having a bedroom that is not used. I was told that as long as the benefits agancy feel that a fair rent is being asked of for the type and size of the property then it would not be a problem as to how many bedrooms there are.

LHA is based on the number of bedrooms needed - it's the whole point of the system and is the main difference from the Housing Benefit (which used to be in place for private tenants and still is in place for Social Housing tenants).

"The benefits agency feel" - the benefits agency are not involved in the setting, assessment or payment of LHA/HB so what they feel is irrelevant. LHA/HB is run by local Councils.

jacnorm

At the min there are five of us all adults living here, myself, hubby, our son and daughter plus my nephew. We have four bedrooms plus two livingrooms (which is allowed as its all adults living here). Our rent is £125per week and the min we get £115 housing benefit towards it. The rent service have in the past visited and they did say that the property in their opinion was actually worth more than we were being asked for per week and they did notify the housing office but we have always still received the same level of benefit. (I am not complaining about this) I was just under the impression from people we know that we would be asked to pay a higher amount if and when my nephew does leave. As money is tight it would be helpful to know in advance if this was the case.Also would we be moved to LHA from HB? Thanks for the replies. Jacqui

Jowo_2

"LHA was introduced nationally in 2008 and now applies to most new claims by private tenants. However, there are some exceptions. If you rent from a private landlord, you will not be assessed using the local housing allowance rules if:

• you pay a registered 'fair rent' (eg you are a regulated tenant)

....
If you were already claiming housing benefit when LHA was introduced in your area, you may continue to receive housing benefit for a while, but your claim will be switched to local housing allowance when you make a new claim, change address, or your circumstances change."

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/paying_for_a_home/housing_benefit_and_local_housing_allowance/local_housing_allowance

Assuming that it's a single adult that is leaving the property, rather than your hubby, and your change of circumstances mean that must submit a new claim, you you will be entitled to the 3 bedroom rate of LHA (one for the couple, one each for those over 16). The living rooms are not relevant in the calculations.

You can find out the 3 bedroom rate for LHA on the LHA Direct website which will give you the maximum sum payable (the actual sum received will depend on household income). What is the difference compared to what you are receiving now - higher or lower?

You can also double check your entire benefit entitlements on the Turn2us online benefit calculator. It will ask you what your rent is and what your maximum LHA rate is.

suelees1

From what I can gather you're still being paid the old HB rate. You might even be better on LHA if you need 4 bedrooms- you'd need to check you local authority website to see what they're paying for a 4 room rate. If you are going to be better off on this remember you'd have to withrdraw your HB claim and claim LHA after a gap of a week. You'd therefore lose a week's money and it depends how much better you'd be on LHA to see if this is worthwhile.

If it is HB and one adult moves out it's likely the LA will say the property is underoccupied and reduce the HB accordingly . I'm a bit rusty on that as LHA has been in for some time now so sorry but I can't give you a specific answer.

To answer your last question, if one of the adults moved out you wouldn't be transferred onto LHA from HB, this would only happen if you made a new claim.

jacnorm

Suelees it is the Hb and this is where I get stuck as I keep getting the LHA rates. Thanks Jacqui