How much rent can be paid?

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Last revised: 18 September 2008

The maximum rent which can be paid for your home

From 7 April 2008 changes were made to the Housing Benefit scheme and the amount of rent which can be paid is determined by whether you rent from a Housing Association or a private landlord.  Furthermore if you rent from a private landlord then the new rules only affect you if you are making a new claim, you have a change of address or you have break in your claim.

If you rent from a Housing Association then the maximum amount of rent which can be paid is normally your rent, less any service charges such as Water, or Insurance.

If you rent from a Private landlord (and are claiming from 7 April 2008) then the maximum rent we can pay will be based on the Local Housing Allowance rate you require under the benefit regulations  For more information regarding this please see our section on Local Housing Allowance

If you claimed Housing Benefit prior to 7 April 2008 then your rent must be referred to The Rent Officer, for information on this please click on What happens if my rent is referred to the Rent Officer.



Find out how much your maximum rent will be before you move in

If you are looking for a home in the private sector you can find out what your Local Housing Allowance rate is for your family, for the area you are looking in.  You will find a link on our How much Local Housing Allowance can I get  page which will help you to find out the rate you would be entitled.  Once you have this you can shop around for a tenancy, if you find one that is more expensive than your LHA rate then you know you have to pay at least the difference out of your own money.  If you find a tenancy that is cheaper than your LHA rate then you can keep up to £15.00 of the difference each week.


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