Local Housing allowance

takoo

Hi PasturesNew

Re #7 Complicated calculations etc: As I understand it it should be OK for the Rent Office. He or she knows the rents for all the types of accommodation and merely lists the rents for each type of dwelling. The LHA is the median of the list (for say 3-beds).

Obviously we must expect some expenditure by LAs :

• cost of staff training
• cost of consultations with CABx, housing advice centres, landlords etc
• advice to private tenants
• dealing with "churn" in the private sector rented market...etc.

Takoo

takoo

Hi seven-day-a-week
#7 A single pensioner would have a need of say one (or two) bedrooms plus one living room. The LHA would be for that accommodation even if he/she occupied 4-bedrooms plus two living rooms and paid a rent in excess of the LHA for one (or two) bedrooms plus one living room. The pensioner would have to find the difference and pay it. (Only if the rent for the large dwelling happened to be lower than the LHA for the "needed" accommodation would the pensioner be able to keep the difference.

There are at least two possible market implications:
1 landlords will want to move the rent of cheaply rented dwellings up to and beyond the LHA (it is a median)

2 tenants paying high rents (above LHA for what they occupy) will tend to want to pay the LHA for the accomodation they occupy or seek accommodation at their need level and therefore the LHA for their need.

But there may be other interpretations...?

Takoo

takoo

Hi seven-day-a-week
#7 A single pensioner would have a need of say one (or two) bedrooms plus one living room. The LHA would be for that accommodation even if he/she occupied 4-bedrooms plus two living rooms and paid a rent in excess of the LHA for one (or two) bedrooms plus one living room. The pensioner would have to find the difference and pay it. (Only if the rent for the large dwelling happened to be lower than the LHA for the "needed" accommodation would the pensioner be able to keep the difference.

There are at least two possible market implications:
1 landlords will want to move the rent of cheaply rented dwellings up to and beyond the LHA (it is a median)

2 tenants paying high rents (above LHA for what they occupy) will tend to want to pay the LHA for the accomodation they occupy or seek accommodation at their need level and therefore the LHA for their need.

But there may be other interpretations...?

Takoo

dmg24

RDB wrote: »

Thanks all. Yes a calculator would be great like the one on entitledto.

Takoo have you 'got deeper into' LHA?

Is it possible to find out the amount for any given situation in any different location?

I rang my local Rent Service office about the level of eligible rent for my area (still a HB area), and they were very helpful. They looked up a recent assessment in my vicinity and told me the relevant figures (obviously not disclosing the address of the claimant!).

Hopefully in the future it will be possible for an online calculator to be put into place. However, whilst the scheme is only in its infancy, it would be impractical, and likely to lead to more problems than it would solve.

takoo

Hi Suelees
Thanks for the web addresses.

Yep the LHA goes out nationwide from 6 April 2007 (one of the common commencement dates statutory instruments). However, lot of info about LHAs are out there relate to the BMRAs.

Whilst the local authorities will deal with the administration of the benefit the LHA pattern may be spread over several LA areas. This is because (so I understand) the broad market rental areas (BMRAs) are in total different from the total number of LAs.

Also I have been told that at least one district council area is divided into three or four BMRAs! To avoid mis-information private tenants may need to have an A to Z Atlas with them when they go into the LA office - they will then be able to pinpoint their dwelling to the boundary of the relevant BMRA (this is a half-joking comment).

Takoo

takoo

Following #5 above:

16 The local authority will / may be reviewing each tenant's Local Housing Allowance (LHA) at 12 monthly intervals.
17 If a tenant's circumstances change the review will follow before the end of the 12 months, ie soon after the change.
18 Normally a tenant will be expected to receive the LHA due and pay his or her landlord directly, ie under the "financial inclusion" principle.
19 Some local authorities will help tenants to set up bank accopunts and direct debit arrangements
20 If a landlord does not receive the rent he or she should contact the local authority.
21 In these circumstances the LA may pay the LHA to landlord direct.
22 Nationally the LHA becomes operative from 6 April 2008 but some authorities may begin on a later date.
23 "Private landlords" do not include housing associations (and of course local housing authorities.
24 Other exclusions include dwellers of caravans, hostels, hotel accommodation, houseboats or mobile homes.
25 Many local authorities have websites setting out the level of LHA for different sizes of accomodation.

Hope this helps to clarify LHA

Takoo

moscow_flyer

I am currently living in a 2 bedroomed Terrace house and my mother lives with me (Over 60). She is shortly to be formally separated from my father. I am moving to work in another town in the near future. I would like to rent my house to my mother rather than strangers, but she has no income other than a very reduced pension. What chance have I got of getting my mum to claim housing benefit to pay me for the equivalent rent I coulld obtain elsewhere?

Hapless_2

If your mum wants to claim housing benefit to pay to you, you will need an official tenency agreement at minimum. Even then it may not be allowed as it is renting from a close relative.

moscow_flyer

But doesnt renting from a close relative only count as a problem if you actually live in the same property? My options are - I turf my own mother out and let her get a council property and get rental income from a third party tenant!! or I get housing benefits for my mum to me. This way she doesnt have to leave. No doubt the council wont like it though. Would I be better off creating a trading name and getting her to claim the income for her landlord in this name?

takoo

Hi moscow flyer

If you own the house and she takes over as your tenant on or after the 7 April 2008 she may be eligible for local housing allowance. However the accommodation may be considered greater than her "need" for accommodation - the LHA for her need may be lower than the "market rent" for the house that you could get from another person(s).

Can't say how the local authority will deal with this, ie your tenant will be your mother.

You may need to look into the kind of tenancy she will have - given the point made by Hapless.

Takoo