If you make a claim for Housing Benefit after 7 April 2008 and you rent accommodation from a private landlord your Housing Benefit will be dealt with under a new set of rules called Local Housing Allowance.

For the cases affected by Local Housing Allowance there will be two important changes.

1. We will have to base the rent we use to assess your Housing Benefit on:

• rent levels set by The Rent Service for the area in which you live, and
• how many people live with you.

2. In most cases, we will pay LHA direct to the tenant rather than to the landlord.

Each month The Rent Service   will publish a set of rent levels, which we must use to calculate Housing Benefit for private tenants.

The Local Housing Allowance level we must use will depend on the number of people living in your household. One bedroom is allowed for.

• an adult couple
• any other adult (aged 16 or over)
• any two children of the same sex aged to 15 years
• any two children under 10
• or any other child

We will get a new set of Local Housing Allowance levels each month:

Please ask at the benefits office if you need any help about which Local Housing Allowance rate should apply to you.

We will assess the tenant’s Housing Benefit using these figures, regardless of the actual rent they’re charged.

Would-be tenants can shop around with their allowance. If they find a property they like with a rent that is more than their LHA, they’ll need, as they do now, to make up the difference themselves. But if they find somewhere with a rent below their allowance, they’ll be able to keep the difference up to a limit of £15.

The examples below help to show how this will work

Example 1: Tenant whose LHA is less than the rent charged
Rent charged £75
LHA £60
Shortfall £15

In this example, the tenant’s rent is £15 more than their LHA. They will have to make up the difference between the LHA of £60 and their rent charge of £75.

Example 2: Tenant whose LHA is more than £15 higher than the rent charged
Rent charged £75
LHA £100
Excess £25

In this example, the tenant’s LHA level is £25 higher than the rent they are charged. The new LHA scheme imposes a limit of £15, which we can pay above the LHA. The total amount of benefit we can pay in this case is £90 (£75 + £15). The tenant will be able to keep only £15 of the difference.

Example 3: Tenant whose LHA is up to £15 higher than the rent charged
Rent charged £75
LHA £85
Excess £10

In this example, the tenant’s LHA is £10 more than the rent they are charged. The excess in this case is less than the limit of £15. The total amount of benefit we can pay in this case is the full £85 of the LHA. The tenant will be able to keep the £10 excess themselves.

We will publish the LHA levels monthly so that landlords and tenants can be clear about the amount of rent the LHA will cover.

Changes to whom LHA is paid

Under the LHA, there will be no routine direct payments to landlords. Instead, councils must pay the benefit directly to the tenant.

However, councils can still make payments direct to the landlord in the following cases:

• if they believe the tenant is likely to have difficulty managing their own affairs - for example, if the tenant has a learning disability or a drug or alcohol problem that would mean they may have problems managing a budget. This is known as the ‘vulnerability’ rule
• if they believe the tenant is unlikely to use their allowance to pay their rent - for example, if the council knows the tenant has consistently failed to pay their rent in the past
• if the tenant has built up rent arrears of eight weeks or more
• if the tenant is having deductions from their Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance to pay off rent arrears.

LHA will be paid direct into the tenant’s bank account or by crossed cheque. This means tenants will need to open a bank account if they do not have one already. Some people may struggle with this responsibility and help will be available if required. For more information on opening a bank account, visit the Financial Services Authority's Money Made Clear website .

Further information

To find out more about the Local Housing Allowance, visit the Department for Work and Pensions’ website

Landlords should also read the information available on our LHA - Keeping Landlords informed page.