Local Housing Allowance
A new form of Housing Benefit called Local Housing Allowance (LHA) will be rolled out nationally from April 2008 as part of the Welfare Reform Act 2007. Local Housing Allowance is for people on low incomes who rent from private landlords.
Local Housing Allowance promotes fairness, as this scheme will generally pay the same amount to tenants in the same area and in similar circumstances being paid the same amount. The scheme allows for landlords and tenants to find out in advance how much of the rent could be covered by Housing Benefit.
The key differences are that under the new scheme of Local Housing Allowance, objectives are to promote personal responsibility and financial inclusion. In the vast majority of cases, benefit will be paid to the tenant who will be responsible for making their own payments of rent to their landlord. In certain circumstances, benefit can be paid directly to the landlord.
How Local Housing Allowance is Calculated
With Local Housing Allowance, your entitlement is worked out based on the following:
- who lives with you
- which area you live in
- how much money you have coming in
- what savings you have.
In some situations, the amount of benefit you are entitled to will also be determined by:
- how much your rent is
- whether anyone living with you is expected to contribute to your rent.
How Local Housing Allowance Will Be Paid?
Usually, Local Housing Allowance will be paid directly to the tenant. This will be paid directly to a bank or building society account. You must therefore ensure that you have a valid bank or building society account. Unfortunately, we cannot pay into a Post Office account.
If you do not already have a bank or building society account, you will be required to open one. You can get advice about opening and running a bank account from any bank or building society.
For more information on opening basic bank accounts, please refer to the external link on the right hand side of this page.
Payment of Local Housing Allowance Direct to a Landlord
Local Housing Allowance will be paid to the tenant unless the tenant is likely to have difficulty paying their rent. For more details on this, please refer to our leaflet HB(LHA)3 which you can download from the right hand side of this screen.
Changes In Circumstances
If you currently receive Housing Benefit and you move to a new address, you must tell us straight away. For more information, visit our section on Reporting Changes In Circumstances.
Obtaining More Information on Local Housing Allowance
If you require any further information on Local Housing Allowance, please do not hesitate to Contact Us.
Information Leaflets
More information leaflets can be obtained from our Downloads section on the right hand side of this page.
