What is local housing allowance?
The name for housing benefit for people living in the privately rented sector changed to local housing allowance (LHA) in April 2008.
This will not affect you if you rent a property from Golden Gates Housing, a registered social landlord or housing association.
There are no changes to the entitlement rules, LHA will still be based on a person's income and savings. However LHA is a flat rate allowance based on the size of the household living in a property.
You can find the LHA rates in the related documents, or in our one stop shop - Contact Warrington. Alternatively, you can call us to find out the rate applicable to your household size:
443210 (local rate)
Payment of LHA will normally be directly to the tenant, who will then pay the landlord.
Will it affect me?
If you are already receiving housing benefit then you will not be affected by local housing allowance, until:
- you change address to a privately rented property (there are some exemptions)
- you have a break of one week or more in your entitlement to housing benefit.
How many rooms do I need?
Local housing allowance aims to reflect the current market rates for rented properties in our area and is calculated by looking at how many bedrooms a household needs. The LHA rate that will apply to the tenant will match the number of rooms they need. This does not include bathrooms, kitchens and living rooms.
To calculate the number of rooms needed, you need to count one bedroom for the following people living in your household:
- a single claimant or every adult couple
- any other single adult aged 16 or over
- any two children of the same sex aged under 16
- any two children under the age of ten
- any other child.
The maximum number of rooms allowed will be four from 1 April 2011.
Are you aged under 35, or living in shared accommodation?
If you are single, under 35 and don't have any children then you will only be entitled to the LHA rate for a room in shared accommodation.
If you are single, or a couple not responsible for children, aged 35 or over and you are living in shared accommodation. Then you will only be entitled to the shared room rate of local housing allowance.
If you are aged between 25 and 35, please refer to the link below for more information about how the shared accommodation rate will affect you: Shared accommodation rates
Payment of local housing allowance
Normally local housing allowance will be paid to the tenant. This will be paid by BACS in to your bank account. There are certain circumstances that we are able to pay the landlord, this is known as 'safeguarding'.
We could pay your landlord if you have special circumstances
- learning difficulties
- rent arrears problems
- severe debt problems
- fleeing domestic violence
- alchol/drug/gambling addictions.
If you think we should pay your landlord because you think these circumstances apply to you, then you should contact us about it.
You can download the safeguarding strategy below for further information.
You can download the application form below to request payment to be made to your landlord.
We can now also consider paying your landlord if this would mean your landlord lowering the rent charged to a more affordable amount. Or, if paying your landlord would help you secure a new tenancy we can consider paying them direct. Please call us on 01925 443210 if you would like more information.
Bank accounts
As local housing allowance is normally paid to the tenant then you are going to need a bank account. If you do not have a bank account, you will need to go to a high street bank and open a basic bank account.
You can find out more about this by:
- downloading the leaflet below
- picking up a leaflet at Contact Warrington
- or by phoning 443210 (local rate)
Related documents: