housing benefit

hmc

hello
im currently getting full lha for our 2 bed, can anyone tell me if there is still rules about how many rooms we need and if they still knock money off your allowence if you take more rooms than you need?
the reason i ask is that we are in private rent and pay a large top up, i bid on council houses every week that are local but always leave the 3 bed
thankyou

tomjonesrules

If you are in a council house you are automatically allocated the full rent, however this could change in the future. Having said that, if the council have not deemed that you require a three bed you won't get one, as demand far outstrips demand for that size of property.

KxMx

There are plans to deduct money from HB awards if you have more rooms than you need. They are plans at this stage and not coming into law at the moment.

I believe unlike the LHA changes, this will affect council HB also.

suelees1

hmc wrote: »

hello
im currently getting full lha for our 2 bed, can anyone tell me if there is still rules about how many rooms we need and if they still knock money off your allowence if you take more rooms than you need?

Yes the maximum LHA is dependent on how many rooms you require (for private tenancies). They don't knock it off your allowance as such.

There is no room restriction for social housing tenants but then again LHA isn't relevant either.

If you are suffering hardship you can apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment which is paid on top.

Mark_Alexander

Hi

I'm new here and I can't work out how to start a new thread so I've decided to post on this one as it's a related subject.

Did you know that the new housing benefit laws take effect from January 2012?

In four days time, single benefit claimants below the age of 35 and without children will only receive benefits sufficient to pay for a room in a shared house. However, research my has revealed that this rule does not apply to dangerous criminals, who will still be entitled to claim benefits to enable them to rent a self contained one bed flat.

The source document for this information came in the form of a PDF document sent to all homelessness advisers throughout the country by the NHAS (National Homelessness Advice Service). I managed to get hold of a copy via my contacts and asked a Tenancy Relations Officer friend of mine to write about it. This is the link to his blog and the PDF.

Later yesterday evening I read the document in detail and was horrified to discover that a law abiding, hard working 34 year old who had lost their job could end up living in worse conditions than their twin who's just got out of the clink and is still judged to be a risk to society. How can this possibly be right? I decided to blog about it and I'd like to bet my next door neighbours could hear me bashing away at the keyboard in anger. My blog is here.

I'm new to this forum and feel I am entering the Lions Den because I know sentiments run high about landlords, YES, I am one of them and have been since 1989. My full time job is running a property news and services directory too - blood curdling stuff hey?

I would like to prove to you that landlords can have a social conscience too.

Happy Christmas by the way

HappyMJ

Mark_Alexander wrote: »

Hi

I'm new here and I can't work out how to start a new thread so I've decided to post on this one as it's a related subject.

Did you know that the new housing benefit laws take effect from January 2012?

In four days time, single benefit claimants below the age of 35 and without children will only receive benefits sufficient to pay for a room in a shared house. However, research my has revealed that this rule does not apply to dangerous criminals, who will still be entitled to claim benefits to enable them to rent a self contained one bed flat.

The source document for this information came in the form of a PDF document sent to all homelessness advisers throughout the country by the NHAS (National Homelessness Advice Service). I managed to get hold of a copy via my contacts and asked a Tenancy Relations Officer friend of mine to write about it. This is the link to his blog and the PDF.

Later yesterday evening I read the document in detail and was horrified to discover that a law abiding, hard working 34 year old who had lost their job could end up living in worse conditions than their twin who's just got out of the clink and is still judged to be a risk to society. How can this possibly be right? I decided to blog about it and I'd like to bet my next door neighbours could hear me bashing away at the keyboard in anger. My blog is here.

I'm new to this forum and feel I am entering the Lions Den because I know sentiments run high about landlords, YES, I am one of them and have been since 1989. My full time job is running a property news and services directory too - blood curdling stuff hey?

I would like to prove to you that landlords can have a social conscience too.

Happy Christmas by the way

Not really. It only applies to the serious ex-offenders managed by MAPPA on level 2 or 3. They will be housed in approved premises and it's unlikely anyone would want to share a home with a sex offender, violent criminal or arsonist. There are very few ex-offenders managed that closely so it won't affect too many.

Mark_Alexander

Hi HMC

Would you have any idea what number we are talking about?

I appreciate it's a low percentage of the population but numbers would be useful.

I accept that nobody would want to share with them, so why not put them all together in half way houses until they get a job? if not, there's a risk of them goinfg into social housing on a new development where owner occupiers have saved hard to buy their first home. Why should they and their kids be expected to live next door to rapists, peadophiles, arsonists and murderers?

Come next year will have disabled war hero's living in HMO's and MAPPA level 2 and 3 assessed individuals in self contained 1 bed flats on new housing developments. Can this be rght?

tomjonesrules

Mark Alexander is not new, he's been banned before. I note he has already started posting links to his "blog" ... Shame they won't work!

HappyMJ

Mark_Alexander wrote: »

Hi HMC

Would you have any idea what number we are talking about?

I appreciate it's a low percentage of the population but numbers would be useful.

I accept that nobody would want to share with them, so why not put them all together in half way houses until they get a job? if not, there's a risk of them goinfg into social housing on a new development where owner occupiers have saved hard to buy their first home. Why should they and their kids be expected to live next door to rapists, peadophiles, arsonists and murderers?

Come next year will have disabled war hero's living in HMO's and MAPPA level 2 and 3 assessed individuals in self contained 1 bed flats on new housing developments. Can this be rght?

Yes...A little bit of googling will find the numbers. In the whole country 924 individuals were subject to MAPPA level 3 in the year 2008-2009.

On 31 March 2009, there were 32,336 sex offenders, 11,527 violent
offenders and 898 other dangerous offenders subject to MAPPA.

How many of those are aged between 25 and 35 I'm not sure. Probably just a handful but I'll keep looking for you.

EDIT: It is estimated that 2000 ex-offenders will benefit from this policy. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/eia-hb-shared-accommodation-age-threshold.pdf


Social housing is different. An applicant to social housing can be granted a self contained 1 bedroom property at 18 and the full rent will be eligible for housing benefit. The changes only apply to private rentals. Would you rent your property to rapists, peadophiles, arsonists and murderers? Probably not.

Disabled war hero's on higher rate mobility can claim for a self contained property.

Mark_Alexander

I've never posted here before in my life!

tomjonesrules wrote: »

Mark Alexander is not new, he's been banned before. I note he has already started posting links to his "blog" ... Shame they won't work!

hmc

hi all thanks for the replys
my son and i are in a private rent 2 bed, we recieve a little discretionary payment help as the top up rent is quite a lot
ive been trying for 6 yrs lol to get a council/housing association house local to sons school
thats why i wondered what lha allowance i would recieve if i managed to get a 3 bed to increase what im bidding for?