Local Housing Allowance Calculation

Local Housing Allowance is a way of working out claims for Housing Benefit for tenants renting accommodation from a private landlord. If you live in council accommodation or other social housing, Local Housing Allowance will not affect you.

To work out how much benefit you might get you need to:

1. Work out how many bedrooms you are entitled to 

2. Check the Local Housing Allowance rates

3. Find out if you can get the full amount of benefit. The amount of benefit you can get may be affected by:

• any money you have coming in
• any savings you have
• how much your rent is
• if we expect anyone living with you to pay towards your rent
• if you share paying the rent with someone else who is not your partner

Additional rooms may be allowed if someone in your household requires overnight care; if they cannot share a bedroom due to disability or ill health; if you have a foster child; or if an adult member of the household is serving in the armed forces.  

Examples:

• Tom and Jane are a couple who have a child, Ben, who is 9 years old.
  They are entitled to one bedroom for themselves and one for Ben. This means any Housing Benefit to which they are entitled will be based on the Local Housing Allowance rate for two bedrooms. 

• Susan is a single mother who has three children, Tom, who is 14, Judy, who is 11 and Raymond, who is 6.

  Susan is entitled to one bedroom for herself, one bedroom for Judy and one bedroom for Tom and Raymond to share. This means any Housing Benefit to which they are entitled will be based on the Local Housing Allowance rate for three bedrooms. 

• Lisa and Matt are a couple who have five children: Shaun, who is 17; Graham, who is 15; Laura, who is 12; Millie, who is 9; and Jessica, who is 6. 
  They are entitled to one bedroom for themselves, one bedroom for Shaun, one bedroom for Laura and Millie to share, one bedroom for Graham and one bedroom for Jessica. Although they require five bedrooms, a maximum of four bedrooms can be used for Local Housing Allowance purposes so any Housing Benefit to which they are entitled will be based on the Local Housing Allowance for four bedrooms.

What can affect the Local Housing Allowance rate

In some cases extra rules apply.  For clarification where we refer to a self-contained property we mean where you have your own room plus your own:

• bathroom
• toilet
• kitchen (or facilities to cook with)

• A Couple and you do not live with any dependents 

  Your rent will be based on the one bedroom Local Housing Allowance rate if you live in:

   

   - A self-contained property

   - Shared accommodation but have two or more rooms (bedrooms and living rooms) that no-one else can use
   - If you are a couple and do not live with any dependants but you do live in shared accommodation, your benefit will be based on Local Housing Allowance shared room rate if you live in shared accommodation.

•  Aged 25 or over, single and do not live with any dependants

  Your rent will be based on the one bedroom Local Housing Allowance rate if you live in:

   

   - A self-contained property

   - Shared accommodation but have two or more rooms (bedrooms and living rooms) that no-one else can use

   - If you live in shared accommodation and you don’t have two or more rooms that no-one else can use then your benefit will be based on Local Housing Allowance shared room rate.

• Under 35, single and do not live with any dependants

  You can only get the shared room rate of Local Housing Allowance.

• Severely disabled or live with a severely disabled partner and have no dependant children

  Your benefit will be based on the one bedroom Local Housing Allowance rate.

   

  Severely disabled means that you or your partner are in receipt of middle or high rate care component of Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance and no-one is receiving Carer’s Allowance for you or your partner.

   

• A care leaver under 22, or live with care leaver under 22 who is your partner and have no dependent children 

  By care leaver we mean someone who was in council care after the age of 15. There are certain other conditions and legalities. Please contact us directly if you need further advice.

   

  In these cases then your benefit will be based on the one bedroom rate of Local Housing Allowance

   

• Joint tenants

  If you are a joint tenant the amount you get will be based solely on your family who live with you, plus any non-dependants, sub-tenants or borders.

   

  For example if you are a joint tenant and you are under 35, then the under 35 rules will apply.  If you are a joint tenant and you have a non-dependant then you will be entitled to the two bedroom rate. 

   

  If however you are a joint tenant and the non-dependant is part of yours and the joint tenants family for example because you are brothers and your father lives you, then both of you would be entitled to the two bedroom rate.

   
•  Non-dependants
  If you claim benefit you can only get it for yourself and your family. If you share a property with someone who is not part of your family, your benefit may be reduced. This is because we may expect them to pay towards your rent. 

Housing Benefit Department

Civic Offices

Holton Road

Barry

CF63 4RU

• 01446 709244
• privatebenefits@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk

Remember that this page is a guide only. It is not meant to say exactly what your legal rights are. While we have tried to make sure that the information on this page is correct, it is possible that there may be incorrect information or some ideas may be oversimplified. We recommend that you contact us directly.