Housing benefit can cover or pay towards your rent. It may also give you some extra money towards things you have to pay for, like children’s play areas and the cleaning of communal areas.

Who can get housing benefit?
You can claim housing benefit if you live in the UK, you pay rent and you are on a low income.

You can’t claim housing benefit if you have savings of over £16,000 unless you are aged 60 or over and receive the guarantee credit of pension credit. There are special rules for full time students and people from abroad.

You cannot get housing benefit to help with mortgage payments. You can get advice about mortgage payments from the department for work and pensions web site from the link on this page.

What does housing benefit cover?
If you rent from a council property or a housing association, benefit will be based on the rent you pay. If your rent includes bills, insurance or meals, housing benefit will not cover these costs.

If you rent from a private landlord your benefit will be based on the housing needs of you and your family. Please see the page entitled local housing allowance to find out about the new type of housing benefit for private tenants.

How much housing benefit will I get?
The amount of housing benefit you get depends on:     

• your income (and your partner’s income if you have one)
• your savings
• the number of children that live with you
• other people in your household
• if you or someone in your family is ill or has a disability

(When we refer to a partner, we mean
-a person you are married to or a person you live with as if you are married to them, or
-a civil partner or a person you live with as if you are civil partners.)

How do I claim housing benefit?
You can download and print a form using the link on the right, or pick one up from any of our one stop centres. The form can also be used to claim council tax benefit, second adult rebate and/or free school meals and school clothing allowance. If you would like one sent to you, please contact us using the details on the top right of this page. Send your completed form to the address at the top right of this page.

You can also hand the form into any of our one stop centres. If you rent from the council, you can drop your form into your local housing office.

When will my claim start?
By law, your claim for housing benefit allows a claim to be "treated as made" on the day that you register your intent to claim. In most instances we will start your claim from the Monday after that date providing that you return a completed application form to us within one month of that date.

Intent to claim can be registered by means such as a telephone call, an email or in writing. However it must be made by the person wishing to claim and must be registered with a designated office ie Leeds Benefits Service, a One Stop Centre, an ALMO, or a DWP/Pension Service office.

What to do if you disagree with our decision
If you think our decision about your housing benefit is wrong, you can ask us to think about it again or explain it to you. You need to ask us to do this within one calendar month. If we do not change our decision you can appeal. You can get an appeals form with guidance notes by using the link on the right hand side of this page.

Some useful definitions

Contacts