Benefits Service - Local Housing Allowance (LHA)

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is a  form of Housing Benefit for private tenants which came into effect on 7 April 2008.

This will only apply to new claims or where there is a change of address. Council and housing association tenants are not be affected by Local Housing Allowance.

The following information is a brief summary of Local Housing Allowance along with a list of leaflets with further information available for download.

The fundamental aims of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) scheme are to promote:

• Fairness: LHA bases the maximum amount paid to tenants on the size, composition and location of the household. Therefore, two households in similar circumstances in the same area will be entitled to similar amount of benefits.
• Choice: tenants are able to take on greater responsibility and be able to choose whether to rent a larger property, or spend less on housing and increase their available income.
• Transparency and simplicity: A clear and transparent set of allowance rates to help tenants (and landlords) know how much financial help is available in advance without the current complicated rent officer referrals system
• Personal responsibility: Empowering and encouraging people to budget for and to pay their rent themselves, rather than having it paid for them
• Financial inclusion – Ideally, we want people to have their housing payments paid into a bank account and to set up a standing order to pay the rent to their landlord. This is a safe and secure method of payment and provides certainty for landlords that rent will be paid.
• Improved administration and reduced barriers to work – For working age tenants, LHA provides a greater certainty about what help is available in and out of work. The simpler system also helps speed up administration of housing payments, giving tenants more confidence when starting a job that any in-work benefit will be paid quickly.

Please click on the leaflet from the table below for more detailed information on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) Note: See leaflet HB (LHA5YTD) for LHA Rates for year to date rates.

The following documents are  format

• HB(LHA)1 - General introduction to LHA - Audience = All
• HB(LHA)2 - Working out your LHA - Audience = All
• HB(LHA)2UT - Working out your LHA for under 35s - Audience = Under 35s
• HB(LHA)2OT - Working out your LHA for 35s and over- Audience = Over 35s
• HB(LHA)2CP - Working out your LHA for couples - Audience = Couples
• HB(LHA)2CL - Working out your LHA for care leavers - Audience = Care leavers
• HB(LHA)2SD - Working out your LHA for severely disabled tenants - Audience = Severely disabled tenants
• HB(LHA)3 - Tenants who have difficulty paying their rent - Audience = All
• HB(LHA)4 - Introduction for landlords - Audience = Landlords
• HB(LHA)5 - LHA rates for February 2012 - Audience = All
• MC HB(LHA)5YTD 10/11 - Monthly LHA rates for 2010/11 - Audience = All
• MC HB(LHA)5 Rates 11/12 - LHA rates for 2011/12 - Audience = All
• HB(LHA)6  - Rights and responsibilities - Audience = Tenants
• HB(LHA)7 - Appeals and reviews - Audience = Tenants
• HB(LHA)8 - Money advice - Audience = Tenants
• HB(LHA)9 - Local bank details - Audience = Tenants
• Basic Bank Accounts - FSA – Just the facts about basic bank accounts - Audience = Tenants