Local Housing Allowance

Local housing allowance (LHA) is housing benefit for people who rent a home from a private landlord.

LHA rates are based on the number of bedrooms in the property, up to a maximum of 4 bedrooms.

The LHA that we will use to calculate your benefit will depend on how many bedrooms are needed to accommodate the household, not the amount of the rent.

Number of bedrooms you may be eligible for

The number of people who live with you is used to work out how many bedrooms you are entitled to. Other rooms, such as living room, kitchen or bathroom are not counted. You are entitled to one bedroom for each of the following, up to a maximum of 4 bedrooms:

Every couple (married or unmarried)
Any other person aged over 16
Any two children of the same sex aged under 16
Any two children aged less than 10
Any other child

You are also allowed a bedroom if there is a non-resident carer who frequently stays overnight in a bedroom. There has to be a medical need for the care, which must be for you or your partner. This can be shown if you or your partner receives Attendance Allowance, the middle or highest rate care component of DLA or the daily living component of the Personal Independence Payment. Alternatively, a doctor's letter explaining the need should be sufficient.

A separate bedroom may also be considered for severely disabled children, normally expected to share. In order to consider if an additional bedroom can be allowed, we will need to consider:

If there is a medical need for care
The nature and severity of the disability
The nature and frequency of the care required during the night
The extent and regularity to which the disability or care affects the sleep of the child expected to share a bedroom.

You may also be entitled to an extra bedroom if you or your partner need separate bedrooms because of a disability.

If you consider that you may be affected by this guidance, please contact us.

Groups whose bedroom entitlement could be different

Aged less than 35, are single and do not live with any dependants
Care leaver aged under 22
Severely disabled

LHA and the single under-35s

If you are under 35 and single you usually only get the shared-room rate of LHA, even if you live in self-contained accommodation.

But if you are severely disabled, have previously been in care, or have children or others (non-dependants) living with you, the shared-room rate may not apply.

LHA and shared accommodation at any age

You (and your partner if you have one) will be entitled to the shared room rate if you:

have sole use of only one room in the property
share the rest of the accommodation
do not have children or non-dependants living with you

You (and your partner if you have one) will be entitled to the one-bedroom rate if you:

have sole use of more than one room
share the rest of the accommodation
do not have children or non-dependants living with you
the 'under-35 rules' (above) do not apply

For joint tenants LHA is worked out slightly differently:

if you have one room, you get the shared room rate
if you have use of more than one room you get the one-bedroom rate
if you have children or non-dependants living with you the rate for the number of bedrooms you need applies.