City of York Council is informing private tenants about national changes to the way that Housing Benefit is calculated and distributed.

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) will come into effect in April 2008 and is a simpler way of working out Housing Benefit (HB) for claims from tenants renting from private landlords.

This new way of calculating Housing Benefit entitlement will only apply to private tenants who are making a claim for the first time,making a claim at a new address, or following a break in entitlement.

The old old-style Housing Benefit will continue to apply to:
- existing private tenant claims
- council tenants
- housing association tenants
- people whose tenancy started before 1989

The main difference between Local Housing Allowance and the old-style Housing Benefit is how it  is calculated. With Housing Benefit, the maximum amount of benefit paid is based on the level of rent for a particular tenancy and household.

The level of Local Housing Allowance is will be set by a government agency (the Rent Service) and will be known before someone takes on a tenancy. The maximum level of allowance is will be based on the number of bedrooms the household needs, for example, a couple with one child would need two bedrooms. There will also be a rate for a room in shared accommodation, which will apply to single claimants aged under 25.

The rates will be updated each month, and the information will be available on the council's website at www.york.gov.uk.

If the Local Housing Allowance is less than the rent then the claimant will be expected to make up the difference, in the same way as under the current Housing Benefit scheme. But iIf somone's LHA is more than their rent, they can keep the difference, up to a maximum of £15 per week.

Like the current Housing Benefit scheme, the maximum amount of Local Housing Allowance might be reduced because of any income or other adults in the household.

Local Housing Allowance will generally be paid by direct credit into the claimant's bank account, and they will be responsible for paying their rent. However, people who are indentified as 'vulnerable' and have difficulty managing their affairs will be able to have their LHA paid directly to their landlord.

Anyone who has any queries should email lha@york.gov.uk or call the council on 01904 552245.