What is Local Housing Allowance?

If you are a private tenant renting a property or room from a private landlord and you are on a low income, you may be able to claim and receive Local Housing Allowance .You can claim Local Housing Allowance (LHA) by filling out a Housing Benefit claim

• Shared Accommodation Rate:…..£57.50 per week
• One Bedroom Rate:………………£92.31 per week
• Two Bedrooms Rate:……………..£106.15 per week
• Three Bedrooms Rate:……………£115.38 per week
• Four Bedrooms Rate:…………….£150.00 per week

However, there is a fund available to help, Discretionary Housing Payments help people who need extra help with their rent and Council Tax when Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit do not meet the full value of their rent or Council Tax.

When they can make a payment

The Council can only make a Discretionary Housing Payment if they believe that the person’s circumstances call for further financial help. Each case is assessed on its individual merits. The finances and personal circumstances of the applicant are carefully considered and taken into account.


Examples of circumstances when a Discretionary Housing Payment may be awarded are:

• If you have extra expenses due to special circumstances, such as someone being ill or in hospital.
• If your Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit has been reduced because you have been in hospital for more than 52 weeks.
• If there are special reasons why you need to stay in a particular property, but the Rent Officer has restricted the amount of rent we use in the calculation.
• If your Council Tax Benefit has been restricted to Band E.

The above list only provides examples and does not cover all the circumstances in which a Discretionary Housing Payment is awarded.

So do not despair until you have asked at your local council office……

What is Local Housing Allowance?

If you are a private tenant renting a property or room from a private landlord and you are on a low income, you may be able to claim and receive Local Housing Allowance .You can claim Local Housing Allowance (LHA) by filling out a Housing Benefit claim

• Shared Accommodation Rate:…..£57.50 per week
• One Bedroom Rate:………………£90.00 per week
• Two Bedrooms Rate:……………..£103.85 per week
• Three Bedrooms Rate:……………£115.38 per week
• Four Bedrooms Rate:…………….£155.77 per week

People across the UK are missing out on benefits and tax credits worth more than £10 billion a year.
Liverpool City Council can help make sure you get what is yours.
Just use thier simple calculator to work out how much you could claim..


What is Housing Benefit?
Housing Benefit helps you pay your rent if you are on a low income. The amount of housing benefit due to you is worked out by looking at:

■How much money you have coming in.
■Your personal circumstances and the amount of rent you have to pay.
■The amount of savings you have (more than £16,000 will normally disqualify you).


The site is free and no personal information is required, so anonymity is assured.

If you are unsure of your entitlement, then please visit http://www.liverpool.entitledto.co.uk/

LandlordReferencing.co.uk is a nationwide community made up of thousands of proactive landlords and letting agents who have joined forces to stop undeserving tenants ruining their property, defaulting on their rent and making their lives and the lives of their good tenants hell. 


In a nut shell:

It is the ultimate neighbourhood watch for competent and honest landlords and letting agents as it not only does it enable you to search new tenants but also track down previous tenants.

• In Britain we’re currently building 100,000 fewer new houses every year than we need
• About 1 million homes are empty – 350,000 have been that way for over six months
• 2 million families in the UK need a decent home

Join us by putting you name here http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-great-british-property-scandal

What is Local Housing Allowance?

If you are a private tenant renting a property or room from a private landlord and you are on a low income, you may be able to claim and receive Local Housing Allowance .You can claim Local Housing Allowance (LHA) by filling out a Housing Benefit claim

• Shared Accommodation Rate:…..£57.50 per week
• One Bedroom Rate:………………£92.31 per week
• Two Bedrooms Rate:……………..£109.62 per week
• Three Bedrooms Rate:……………£121.15 per week
• Four Bedrooms Rate:…………….£150.00 per week

• The Estate Agency Foundation (EAF) is dedicated to helping eliminate the causes of homelessness
• The EAF brings together the whole Property industry to contribute to a major issue faced by all communities in the UK

Help for homeless people

Local authorities have a legal duty to provide help to people who are found to be homeless or threatened with homelessness with priority need.

Unfortunately, the lack of housing stock means it is becoming increasingly difficult for the local authorities to help in rehousing.

However, the introduction of accreditation schemes Local Authorities, can now outsource their accommodation needs to include private landlords and letting agencies.

The landlord accreditation scheme recognises good quality and well managed private accommodation.  Most Merseyside Local authorities utilise this scheme to secure housing for their clients, Sefton being the newest to explore the possibilities of implementing this invaluable service.

In addition local authorities can now also offer “The Bond Guarantee Scheme”.  The scheme helps people who are eligible for support and aims to help them secure accommodation in the private rented sector that would not normally be available to them given the standard requirement to provide a deposit and/or month’s rent in advance.

PLA Lettings already work closely with multi agencies to combat homelessness and strives to secure safe, comfortable and affordable homes for all.

Stigma of “social housing tenants”

Letting to tenants who are in receipt of benefits like Local Housing Allowance is something that worries many landlords – and yet, the housing benefits system, if delivered correctly, does not involve any risk to the landlord at all.

Indeed, it can be less onerous (and more profitable due to fewer void periods) than letting privately.

In addition, social housing tenants are often “longer term” occupants than private tenants, as their options are limited and therefore income streams can be more readily assured over time.

Communicating these messages to a wider landlord audience and emphasizing that low income-ex-local-authority-housed tenants are not high risk customers is something that we think could be substantially improved.