Local Housing Allowance

Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

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Housing benefit
Local Housing Allowance

Local Housing Allowance

If you're a private tenant renting property or a room from a private landlord and you're on a low income - you may be able to get Local Housing Allowance (LHA).

Local Housing Allowance is a national scheme to help people in the private sector meet their rent in respect of reasonably priced accommodation.

Local Housing Allowance is a new way of working out new claims for housing benefit for tenants renting accommodation from a private landlord. It also affects tenants already getting housing benefit who move into accommodation rented from a private landlord. If you live in council accommodation or other social housing Local Housing Allowance will not affect you.

With Local Housing Allowance, your benefit is not usually based on the property you live in. It is usually based on:

Who lives with you
Which area you live in
How much money you have coming in
What savings you have.

In some cases the amount of benefit you are entitled to will be affected by other things. These can include:

How much your rent is
Whether anyone living with you is expected to contribute to your rent

You can get an idea of how much benefit we can pay before making a claim by checking the Local Housing Allowance rates below for the broad market rental areas for the Vale of White Horse. To check which of these areas any individual property may come under you should check the Local Housing Allowance website. This website will allow you to check not only properties in Vale of White Horse, but anywhere in mainland United Kingdom by entering the postcode. It will also allow you to check the rates for each broad market rental area on the mainland.

Allowance rates for August 2008

Local Housing Allowance rates for the Oxford broad market rental area
Bedroom category	Weekly amount	Monthly amount
Shared accommodation	£85.38	£369.98
1 bedroom	£150.00	£650.00
2 bedrooms	£191.54	£830.01
3 bedrooms	£219.23	£950.00
4 bedrooms	£300.00	£1,300.00
5 bedrooms	£394.62	£1,710.02

Local Housing Allowance rates for the Swindon broad market rental area
Bedroom category	Weekly amount	Monthly amount
Shared accommodation	£69.23	£300.00
1 bedroom	£114.23	£495.00
2 bedrooms	£132.69	£574.99
3 bedrooms	£155.77	£675.00
4 bedrooms	£229.62	£995.02
5 bedrooms	£346.15	£1,499.98

Local Housing Allowance rates for the Cheltenham broad market rental area
Bedroom category	Weekly amount	Monthly amount
Shared accommodation	£62.54	£271.01
1 bedroom	£121.15	£524.98
2 bedrooms	£150.00	£650.00
3 bedrooms	£183.46	£794.99
4 bedrooms	£265.38	£1,149.98
5 bedrooms	£311.54	£1,350.01

Local Housing Allowance Rates are determined by the Rent Service at the time of your claim to calculate how much benefit you qualify for. The rate you are entitled to may reduce depending on you income, savings and circumstances. The Local Housing Allowance is the maximum amount that you can receive.

You will usually have your benefit paid directly into your bank or building society account. It is no longer possible to have your benefit paid direct to your landlord, unless you are considered by the Council to be incapable of dealing with your financial affairs for whatever reason, or you are unlikely to pay your rent.

The Council has a Safeguard Policy to help make decisions as to whether you will come under either of these categories. This policy can be downloaded from the right of the page.

Any changes in circumstances relating to a claim for Local Housing Allowance should be made known to the Local Authority as it may affect the level of benefit entitlement.