Landlord LHA Q & A

 

Who will it affect?

LHA will affect all private tenant new claims from the 07/04/08, change of addresses from the 07/04/08 or someone who has a break in their entitlement.  It will not apply to Housing Association Tenants, Caravans or Council Tenants.

 

How does the size criteria work?

One bedroom will be needed for the following:

• every adult couple
• any other adult aged 16 or over
• any 2 children of the same sex
• any 2 children regardless of sex under 10
• any other child

Foster children are not counted

 

How will single claimants under 25 work?

A single claimant under 25 will be entitled to shared rate of LHA.

 

A single claimant aged 25 or over, care leavers under 22 or couple with no non-dependent children will be entitled to a one bedroom rate.  However if they choose to live somewhere that they do not have exclusive use of 2 or more rooms, or they share facilities they will be entitled to the shared rate.

 

What is the Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA) and what is it based on?

LHA rates will be based on the BRMA that someone lives in.  Within the Vale of Glamorgan we will have 3 BRMA’s.  These have been based on Health facilities, Education facilities, recreation facilities, banking facilities and shopping.  The areas are Cardiff and the Vale, Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taf.

 

How often will the LHA rates change?

The rates will be published every month.  The rate appropriate will depend from what month the claim is being commenced.  They will be available on the website and in the Civic Offices.  Once someone’s claim is awarded the rate will last for 52 week unless there is a relevant change in their circumstances which changes the number of rooms they need.

 

How long will an LHA decision last?

As with rent officer decision currently the decision will last for 52 weeks unless there is a change which changes their size criteria.

 

What will happen if joint tenants have a non dependent?

If you have two joint tenants Bob and Alice and a non dependent Bill is Bob’s non dependent then Bob will be entitled to a 2 bed rate and the non dependents deduction will apply.  Alice will be entitled to a shared rate and no non dependents deduction will apply.

 

If however Bill was both their non dependents if for example Bob and Alice were brother and sister and Bill is their father the rooms allowance changes.  Both Bob and Alice are entitled to the 2 bed rate of LHA.  The non- dependants deduction is then apportioned between them.

 

What happens if the tenant does not have a bank account?

You need to advise them that they need to open one.  We have spoken to a number of banks and most were more than willing to help the tenants to get a bank opened. They will need to contact individual banks to see what they need to open and account.

 

Most people will be able to open a basic bank account.

 

In rare cases tenants may not be able to and we may need to consider paying the landlord direct.  These cases we will look at on an individual basis.

 

What happens if the tenant/landlord or third party believes that it is in the tenants best interests that the money goes direct to the landlord?

There is a vulnerability policy in place.  In these cases there is a vulnerability application to be completed and evidence needs to be provided to back up what is stated.  These cases will be looked at on an individual basis and based on the evidence we have including what we already know about the tenant based on information previously provided on claims we will decide if the landlord will be paid direct.  In most cases this will not be a permanent decision and it will be reviewed after a set period depending on the circumstances.

 

What happens if the landlord says the tenant is in arrears?

The 8 weeks in arrears rule still applies and if a landlord writes in and advises us of this, then we can make payment to the landlord UNTIL the arrears are cleared.

If a landlord advises us their tenant is in 4 weeks or more of arrears, providing we have paid benefit we will contact the tenant and ask them why they have not paid.

 

N.B A tenant cannot be in arrears if the landlord is charging for an advance period of rent.

 

What happens if the LHA rate is more than the amount of rent they are charged?

Realistically these cases are likely to be few and far between.  As the monthly LHA rates are going to be available in advance most landlords are going to set the rent and at least the LHA rate.

 

In the cases where the rent is lower, the tenant can have upto £15 extra per week which is theirs to do what they want.

 

Can someone appeal against the amount of LHA?

No, this amount cannot be appealed unlike when you could previously request a re-determination of a rent officer’s decision.

 

Can the tenant ask for their benefit to be paid to their landlord?

As part of the Housing Benefit reforms, tenants will no longer be able to simply ask for their benefit to be paid direct to their landlords. If a tenant feels that they may have difficulty in managing their financial affairs and may be entitled to direct payment to their landlord, we will consider any request they make.

 

Won’t tenants spend their Local Housing Allowance on other things?

Many tenants in the private rented sector get their Housing Benefit paid to them and regularly pay their rent on time. Where a tenant is moving to direct payment, we will make it clear to them what their responsibilities are and the consequences of not paying their rent.

 

There will be some customers who can’t manage their own rent payments, so the comprehensive package of safeguards will stop these customers falling into unmanageable difficulties.

 

The Local Housing Allowance scheme has been operating in 18 local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales since October 2003. In these areas, 84% of tenants whose benefit is calculated using the Local Housing Allowance rules are successfully managing their own rent payments. Of the remainder, only a third are having their Housing Benefit paid to the landlord because they have fallen into arrears of 8 weeks or more. The rest are having their benefit paid to the landlords because the local authority identified that they might not be able manage their rent payments.

 

Won’t this discourage landlords from letting their properties to claimants?

We believe the Local Housing Allowance scheme has positives for both landlords and tenants.

 

The reforms are intended to help landlords, as well as tenants, by creating a more transparent system that is simpler to understand and administer. Overall, it will support and clarify the relationships between the local authority, tenants and landlords.

 

Landlords will still be able to approach the local authority for help with rent arrears for tenants getting benefit calculated using the Local Housing Allowance rules. They cannot do this where they have a tenant in rent arrears who is not getting benefit.

 

Because payments are going to tenants in most cases, this removes the possibility of landlords being asked to repay large amounts in overpaid benefit. Under the Local Housing Allowance scheme it is unlikely that the local authority would ask you to repay any money that your tenant has paid directly to you.

 

We believe that the safeguards that exist regarding direct payment to landlords strike the right balance in protecting the interests of both landlord and tenant.

 

Can I make direct payment a condition of the tenancy?

A local authority is not party to the tenancy agreement between a landlord and tenant, and is not bound by any conditions in a tenancy agreement. The local authority cannot pay benefit to a landlord directly at the tenant’s request – the rules about when we can pay the landlord directly are outlined above. You cannot change this by making direct payment a condition of the tenancy.