Local Housing Allowance (LHA)

From 7 April 2008, Housing Benefit for tenants who rent from a private landlord have been calculated using the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) for the size of property you need (to a maximum of four bedrooms from April 2011).

The maximum rate of LHA payable is the four bedroom LHA rate even if the tenant's household size means that they require 6 or 7 rooms.

From April 2011, this is changing to a maxumum of 4 bedrooms. For more details of the April 2011 changes, visit our 'Changes to housing benefit' page.

                                                      May -12                         Apr -12

Number of Bedrooms            Weekly   Monthly        Weekly   Monthly

Shared room rate                   80.81     350.18         80.81     350.18

1 Bedroom(self contained)   173.08    750.01        173.08    750.01

2 Bedrooms                           219.23    950.00         219.23    950.00

3 Bedrooms                           288.46   1249.99       288.46   1249.99

4 Bedrooms                           346.15   1499.98       346.15   1499.98

To work out which of the rates will apply in your benefit calculation you will need to work out how many bedrooms you need for your household. One bedroom will be allowed for each of the following: 

• a single adult
• every adult couple (same or opposite sex)
• any other person aged 16 or over
• any two children of the same sex aged under 16
• any two children regardless of sex under age 10
• any other child

The only exceptions to these rules are:

From 1 April 2011

• * Shared room means exclusive use of 1 room with shared use of at least the kitchen, bathroom and toilet. 
• ** The Government will reduce LHA rates to a lower amount, so that about 3 in 10 properties (also known as the 30th percentile) for rent in your area should be affordable to people on Housing Benefit.