Local Housing Allowance

If you are a private tenant renting a property or a room from a private landlord and you are on a low income, you may be able to claim and receive Local Housing Allowance (LHA). LHA applies to new claims for Housing Benefit, as well as people who change address or have a break in their claim for at least one week.

LHA was introduced in April 2008 as a new way of calculating Housing Benefit, which is based on the area you live in and the number of people living in your household. LHA is a much fairer way of calculating Housing Benefit, as it ensures that tenants in similar circumstances in the same area receive the same amount of financial support for their housing costs.

An advantage of Local Housing Allowance is that it is possible to find out the maximum Housing Benefit that is available before renting a property.

In most cases the Local Housing Allowance will be paid to the tenant rather than the landlord.

A safeguard policy will be used to decide if the landlord should receive the payments.