Local housing allowance

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is for tenants in Leeds who rent from a private landlord. If you rent from the council or a housing association please follow the 'housing benefit' link to find out about your housing benefits.

Who can get LHA?
If you live in the Leeds area, have a low income and pay rent for your property to a private landlord you may be able to claim LHA. You can’t claim if you have savings over £16000, unless you are aged 60 or over and receive the guarantee credit of pension credit. There are special rules if you are a full time student or live abroad.

How much LHA will I get?
The LHA is based on the number of bedrooms your household needs not the number of rooms in the property you rent, or the rent that you are charged. If the LHA is more than the rent, then you can keep some of the extra benefit, if the LHA is less than the rent then the you must make up the shortfall. The LHA amount is set when you make a claim and lasts for one year unless your household circumstances change. After one year it is updated.

How many bedrooms am I allowed?
You 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.

For example:

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 over 25 years old and couples with no children:
If you are single and over 25 or a couple with no children you can get the 1 bedroom LHA but you must 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 you will be entitled to the shared accommodation LHA only.

Single people under 25:
If you are single and under 25 you get the shared accommodation LHA no matter what size of property you rent.

Single people leaving care and those who are severely disabled:               
If you are a single care leaver under 22 or are severely disabled you will get the 1 bedroom self contained rate, regardless of the type of accommodation that you occupy.

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 who need up to 5 bedrooms.

Leeds has two sets of LHA rates Leeds and Tyersal.
The Leeds rates apply to all properties within the Leeds City Council boundary except those in the Tyersal area. If you are unsure which area your property falls within you can check this on the Rent Service website

LHA is not based on the rent that you pay.  However, if your rent is less than your LHA, the maximum LHA you can get will be £15 per week more than your rent.  

For example,  if your LHA was £126.92 and your rent was £100.00 the most you will be able to get is £115.00, but if your LHA was £126.92 and your rent was £130.00 the most you will be able to get is £126.92

Local Housing Allowance 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.

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 4 weekly payment then it will usually be sent to the tenant.  However if the payment is for an amount greater than 4 weeks we may pay the first payment to the landlord.

After the first payment, payments are normally be made direct to the tenant every four weeks in arrears. However, if it is more convenient for you, you can ask to be paid fortnightly in arrears.

Tenants must make arrangements with their landlord 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 their landlord every four weeks. We can also make payments fortnightly in arrears.

Bank accounts
You should be able to open an account either at a bank, building society or at the Leeds City Credit Union to get your local housing allowance. If you are having difficulty opening an account, please let us know as we may be able to help.

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 could pay directly to a landlord.
• we think that a tenant cannot handle their own affairs, we could pay directly to a landlord.
• we can also make payment directly to landlords where a tenant is more than 8 weeks in arrears with their rent.

Payments to landlords can only be made 4 weekly in arrears, we are not able to pay landlords fortnightly.

If someone else looks after your money for you or there is a power of attorney, payment can be made to the person who looks after your money or the person with the power of attorney.

Full guidance on Local Housing Allowance safeguards can be viewed by clicking on the link on the right of this page.

If you have any queries about local housing allowance telephone 0113 222 4404 or use the email links on this page to landlord enquiries' or 'public 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.

Contacts