Housing Benefit Question

Homeagain

I am asking this question for a member of my family. She lives by herself in a large 3 bedroom house with quite a high rental and her employment is on a temporary contract which will probably end in April of this year. She says that if her employment contract ends then she is entitled to make a claim for housing benefit i.e. if she is forced to claim job seekers allowance, her rent will be paid in full by the Council. Is this correct? I have my doubts.

Blindsided_2

No, she will be entitled to LHA, which will be the rent for a one bedroom property (if she is over 35) shared room rate if she is under 35.

Rates can be found on your councils website

nannytone_2

or if it is a council property, she would get 75% of the rent paid as she would lose 25% entitlement for having 2 spare rooms

cattermole

Bedroom allowance can be checked below:

https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/BedRoomCalculator.aspx

The LHA rates for the number of bedrooms she is allowed can be found here by typing in the relevant Local Authority

http://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx

It is unlikely if it high rental in a good area to cover all the cost of the rent as LHA rates are set below the average rent for the area.

Other factors like savings also come into eligibility for HB/LHA

Yes she can claim JSA and if she has enough NI contributions this is not based on any other income, it lasts for 6 months contributory NI.

pmlindyloo

If she has not claimed HB for the previous year when she applies she will be entitled to 13 weeks of HB at her current rent.

After the 13 weeks she will only receive the one bed LHA rate ( if over 35).

Homeagain

Blindsided wrote: »

No, she will be entitled to LHA, which will be the rent for a one bedroom property (if she is over 35) shared room rate if she is under 35.

Rates can be found on your councils website

Thank you but I have to ask a really stupid question, (she is over 35) would it be that she would have to move out - i.e. moving costs, breaking the lease agreement etc?. In other words you are pretty much on your own if you are unemployed and wish to claim HB (in other words it is capped)? Its pretty much what I thought as I couldn't really understand why the Council would pay for such a 'high end' property. Bit of a worry really - could the LL sue her for breaking the tenancy - I know its a fairly recent 12 month period? I think she jumped the gun here but I, personally, am ridiculously cautious.

Homeagain

pmlindyloo wrote: »

If she has not claimed HB for the previous year when she applies she will be entitled to 13 weeks of HB at her current rent.

After the 13 weeks she will only receive the one bed LHA rate ( if over 35).

Sorry, I didn't see your reply. Thank you - so she is pretty much safe for 13 weeks which is time enough to find somewhere new (if it comes to that). I hope not. I just need to know that she will be fairly secure until she finds a new job.

pmlindyloo

See my previous reply about the 13 week leeway. This is to give the claimant time to make other arrangements e.g employment, using a break clause in the tenancy agreement, asking for a surrender of the tenancy agreement, taking in lodgers.

cattermole

If she was in a one bedroomed property, the rent might be nearer to being covered.

Yes she is still liable for the tenancy unless she can find someone else to take it over that is acceptable to the landlord. Maybe one option might be to look for house mates to help with the cost of the rent, if the landlord agrees?

She would still get some LHA in those circumstances for her part of the rent but probably only the shared bedroom rate.

princessdon

nannytone wrote: »

or if it is a council property, she would get 75% of the rent paid as she would lose 25% entitlement for having 2 spare rooms

Clue was high rent, not low cost subsidised rent.

cattermole

You mean non profit making rent surely Princesdom?