LHA and rent increase

Voyager2002

I am a private landlord with a tenant who is on UC and claims LHA. She also has modest earnings from part-time self-employment.

Rising costs mean that I would like to increase the rent to the LHA level allowed for the area for a single person. Presumably the bulk of the increase should be covered by an increase in her LHA and so the shortfall that she has to cover each month should not increase.

After giving formal notification of the increased rent, she sent me a text message saying that "Housing Benefit can't refer new claim to the rent officer until 22/2/25 (its done only once a year!)."

Is this legal? And will the increase in LHA be backdated? I cannot understand how they can refuse to pay a benefit to which the claimant is entitled for up to a year.

Any comments please?

tacpot12

If she is claiming Universal Credit, then she can be paid the increase in her housing costs (your rent) as soon as she is liable to pay the increase and has provided the evidence of the increase. The LHA rates have already gone up as of 1st April 2024 and won't increase again until next year, so if you want to ensre that she doesn't have to pay any more shortfall, you need to cap your rent at the current LHA rate. 

They aren't refusing your tenant a benefit that she is entitled to, nor refusing to pay her the LHA rate. 

Voyager2002

tacpot12 said:

If she is claiming Universal Credit, then she can be paid the increase in her housing costs (your rent) as soon as she is liable to pay the increase and has provided the evidence of the increase. The LHA rates have already gone up as of 1st April 2024 and won't increase again until next year, so if you want to ensre that she doesn't have to pay any more shortfall, you need to cap your rent at the current LHA rate. 

They aren't refusing your tenant a benefit that she is entitled to, nor refusing to pay her the LHA rate. 

Thank you, but please explain your response...

The rent is below the current LHA level, and has been frozen for several years. I want to increase it up to the current LHA rate. She has provided evidence of the increase and has apparently been told that the amount that she receives cannot be increased until next February. Is it possible that she is confused or has been misinformed?

peteuk

Question for my own knowledge…

Private rented get paid the amount of rent and not the LHA level.
Council/housing associates renting gets paid the LHA level.

itsthelittlethings

peteuk said:

Question for my own knowledge…

Private rented get paid the amount of rent and not the LHA level.
Council/housing associates renting gets paid the LHA level.

No, I think it’s the other way round.

HillStreetBlues

Voyager2002 said:

I am a private landlord with a tenant who is on UC and claims LHA. She also has modest earnings from part-time self-employment.

Rising costs mean that I would like to increase the rent to the LHA level allowed for the area for a single person. Presumably the bulk of the increase should be covered by an increase in her LHA and so the shortfall that she has to cover each month should not increase.

After giving formal notification of the increased rent, she sent me a text message saying that "Housing Benefit can't refer new claim to the rent officer until 22/2/25 (its done only once a year!)."

Is this legal? And will the increase in LHA be backdated? I cannot understand how they can refuse to pay a benefit to which the claimant is entitled for up to a year.

Any comments please?

How long has she been your tenant? What kind of tenancy is it?

Voyager2002

HillStreetBlues said:

How long has she been your tenant? What kind of tenancy is it?

A good many years. And I am reasonably confident that it is an Assured Shorthold: obviously the initial fixed term expired ages ago. (I am a little vague since my sister, joint owner, made these arrangements.) 

Voyager2002

peteuk said:

Question for my own knowledge…

Private rented get paid the amount of rent and not the LHA level.

Yes, so long as the amount of rent is at or below the LHA level for the size of household and the area.

Jyana

I may be wrong, but as her rent was just over the LHA amount won't she already be receiving the higher amount of LHA in her UC every month since it went up in April?

UC isn't my area of expertise, but it may depend on how much rent above the LHA she is responsible for that could now be the cause of any issues. Could that difference play into their reasoning for a second increase? Though I am really not sure how that relates to a date in February. 

Voyager2002

Jyana said:

I may be wrong, but as her rent was just over the LHA amount won't she already be receiving the higher amount of LHA in her UC every month since it went up in April?

UC isn't my area of expertise, but it may depend on how much rent above the LHA she is responsible for that could now be the cause of any issues. Could that difference play into their reasoning for a second increase? Though I am really not sure how that relates to a date in February. 

Her rent was BELOW the LHA level. I tried to increase it up to the level specified by LHA.

And she said that "Housing Benefit" were talking about referring it to the rent officer... should she have contacted UC rather than her council's Housing people about this matter?

itsthelittlethings

If your rent goes up you can claim the extra in your UC straight away.