Housing Benefit

Local housing allowance (LHA) is housing benefit for people who rent a home from a private landlord.

LHA rates are based on the number of bedrooms in the property, up to a maximum of 4 bedrooms.

The LHA that we will use to calculate your benefit will depend on how many bedrooms are needed to accommodate the household, not the amount of the rent.

Number of bedrooms you may be eligible for

The number of people who live with you is used to work out how many bedrooms you are entitled to. Other rooms, such as living room, kitchen or bathroom are not counted. You are entitled to one bedroom for each of the following, up to a maximum of 4 bedrooms:

• Every couple (married or unmarried)
• Any other person aged over 16
• Any two children of the same sex aged under 16
• Any two children aged less than 10
• Any other child

You are also allowed a bedroom if there is a non-resident carer who frequently stays overnight in a bedroom. There has to be a medical need for the care, which must be for you or your partner. This can be shown if you or your partner receives Attendance Allowance, the middle or highest rate care component of DLA or the daily living component of the Personal Independence Payment. Alternatively, a doctor's letter explaining the need should be sufficient.

A separate bedroom may also be considered for severely disabled children, normally expected to share. In order to consider if an additional bedroom can be allowed, we will need to consider:

• If there is a medical need for care
• The nature and severity of the disability
• The nature and frequency of the care required during the night
• The extent and regularity to which the disability or care affects the sleep of the child expected to share a bedroom.

You may also be entitled to an extra bedroom if you or your partner need separate bedrooms because of a disability.

If you consider that you may be affected by this guidance, please contact us.

LHA and shared accommodation

You (and your partner if you have one) will be entitled to the shared room rate if you:

• have sole use of only one room in the property
• share the rest of the accommodation
• do not have children or non-dependants living with you

You (and your partner if you have one) will be entitled to the one-bedroom rate if you:

• have sole use of more than one room
• share the rest of the accommodation
• do not have children or non-dependants living with you

For joint tenants LHA is worked out slightly differently:

• if you have one room, you get the shared room rate
• if you have use of more than one room you get the one-bedroom rate
• if you have children or non-dependants living with you the rate for the number of bedrooms you need applies.