Welfare Reform
There are significant changes planned to a number of welfare benefits, including Housing Benefit.
You can find out about the planned changes, Universal Credit and the Welfare Reform Bill 2011 on the Department for Work and Pensions website.
Local housing allowance (LHA) is for tenants in Leeds who rent from a private landlord. If you are renting property from a private landlord there is more information on the Local Housing Allowance page.
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Who can get LHA?
Private tenants who live in the Leeds area, have a low income and pay rent for a property to a private landlord may be able to claim LHA.
Tenants cannot claim if they have savings over £16000, unless they are aged 60 or over and receive the guarantee credit of pension credit. There are special rules for full time students and people who have lived abroad.
How much LHA will my tenant get?
The LHA is based on the number of bedrooms the household needs not the number of rooms in the property. If the LHA is more than the rent, then tenants can keep some of the extra benefit, if the LHA is less than the rent then the tenant must make up the shortfall. The LHA amount is set when the claim is made and lasts for one year unless the households circumstances change. After one year it is updated.
How many bedrooms are allowed?
Tenants are allowed one bedroom for
- each adult couple
- any other adult (aged 16 or over)
- any two children under 10
- any two children of the same sex under 16
- or for any other child.
Example
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Household
|
Bedrooms
|
|
Family A – Couple with one child
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2
|
|
Family B – Single parent with a girl aged 6 and a boy aged 8
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2
|
|
Family C - Couple with a girl aged 6 and a boy aged 12
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3
|
|
Family D – Single parent with a boy age 17 and boy age 12
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3
|
|
Family E – Couple with girls age 17 and 14 and boy age 9
|
4
|
Family B for example are entitled to two bedrooms. If they rent a property with three bedrooms, their benefit will still be worked out using the two bedroom LHA.
Single people aged 35 years and over and couples with no children:
Single people aged 35 years and over or a couple with no children can get the one bedroom LHA but only if they rent a property that is self contained. This means that the accommodation has its own bathroom/toilet and kitchen. If the property is not self contained they will be entitled to the shared accommodation rate of LHA only.
Changes introduced from 1st January 2012 limit the amount that can be paid to single people under 35. Find out more in Housing Benefit changes from 1 January 2012.
Single people under 35
A single person under 35 will get the shared rate of LHA no matter what size of property they rent.
Formerly homeless
Single tenants aged between 25 and 34 who have been homeless at any time for more than 3 months and who live in self contained accommodation may be able to get the 1 bedroom rate – tenants who think that this may apply to them should contact us.
Single people leaving care and those who are severely disabled
Single care leavers under 22 and people who are severely disabled will get the 1 bedroom self contained rate, regardless of the type of accommodation occupied.
Joint tenants
Joint tenants are people who are not a couple but share a property and are named on the tenancy agreement. Joint tenants will get the LHA for their own household not including the family of the other joint tenants.
Current local housing allowance rates
The LHA is set each month by the rent service who provide the “maximum allowances” for households.
Leeds has two sets of LHA rates Leeds and Tyersal.
The Leeds rates apply to all properties within the our boundary except those in the Tyersal area.
The new maximum weekly Local Housing Allowance rates for Leeds from 1st April 2012 are
- Shared accommodation £61.50
- one Bedroom accommodation £99.00
- two Bedroom accommodation £122.75
- three Bedroom accommodation £150.00
- four Bedroom accommodation £196.15
The new maximum weekly local housing allowance rates for Tyersal from 1st April 2012 are
- Shared accommodation £57.73
- one Bedroom accommodation £80.77
- two Bedroom accommodation £98.08
- three Bedroom accommodation £109.62
- four Bedroom accommodation £126.92
The rates are provided annually by the rent service. These rates are valid until 31st March 2013.
The maximum rate is four bedrooms, even if a household would be entitled to more than four bedrooms, the maximum LHA rate is the four bedroom rate.
The maximum that is paid is the LHA rate, but if the rent is less than the LHA, the maximum LHA will be equal to the rent charged.
For example if the LHA was £98.08 and the rent was £80.00 the most that would be paid would be £80.00, but if the LHA was £98.08 and the rent was £120.00 the most we would pay would be £98.08.
LHA rates are set each month by the rent service which is part of Her Majesty's Revenues and Customs Valuation Office. The rates are set on a monthly basis and can change each month.
If you would like to see a summary of the rates that have been set in previous months, please click on the link at the right of this page.
Payments of Local Housing Allowance
The first payment of LHA on a new claim is normally made in the form of a cheque made payable to the landlord and sent to the tenant’s address. The first payment is usually made this way because it can be for a higher amount than the usual four weekly payment so it makes sure the tenant does not fall into arrears.
If a tenant is already getting LHA and changes their address, and the first payment covers only the usual four weekly payment then it will usually be sent to the tenant.
However if the payment is for an amount greater than four weeks we may pay the first payment to the landlord.
After the first payment, payments will normally be made direct to the tenant every four weeks in arrears. However, tenants may ask to be paid fortnightly in arrears.
Tenants must make arrangements with you how to pay the rent. Most people find that the best way is for us to pay the local housing allowance directly into their bank or building society account. They can then set up a standing order or direct debit to pay you every four weeks.
Safeguards
Some people may have difficulty getting the local housing allowance and paying their rent. Payments of local housing allowance can be made direct to a landlord if
- we consider that a tenant is unlikely to pay their rent
- we think that a tenant cannot handle their own affairs
- where a tenant is more than eight weeks in arrears with their rent.
If your tenant owes you more than eight weeks worth of rent or you feel that your tenant will not pay your rent you must provide either a written statement detailing how the arrears have built up or a letter explaining why you believe that your tenant will not pay their rent. More information about direct payments is available in the Information for landlords document.
We will also make payment direct to the landlord where this will assist the customer in securing or retaining a tenancy. This is intended to provide landlords with an incentive to reduce rents to a level that is affordable to customers. If your tenant can no longer meet the agreed rent because of the cuts to Housing Benefit and you agree to reduce the rent to a level that your tenant can afford in return for direct payment of Housing Benefit let us know. Your tenant must agree to direct payment and you must have reduced the rent to a level that your tenant can afford.
Payments to landlords can only be made four weekly in arrears. We are not able to pay landlords fortnightly.
If you have any queries about local housing allowance telephone 0113 222 4404 or use the email link on this page to landlord enquiries.
Tenancy deposit scheme
From 6 April 2007 all deposits taken by landlords and letting agents must be protected by a government-authorised tenancy deposit protection scheme.