Housing Benefit - Can You Claim It?

Housing Benefits are paid through the government and are distributed through your local authority. These benefits help those who have low income or no money. These benefits help you to pay your rent. The benefit can only be paid to those people who rent their home or room including hostels, bed and breakfasts, caravan, houseboat, or mobile home. The Housing Benefit is not applicable to those who have a mortgage on a home. Help for mortgage payments may be received through Income Support services or through the Jobseeker’s Allowance.

To receive Housing Benefits you must pay rent for your home and you income and savings must be below a certain level. If you rent from a private landlord, you may be able to receive the Local Housing Allowance if you live in one of these areas:

Argyll and Bute
Blackpool
Brighton and Hove
Conwy
Coventry
East Riding of Yorkshire
Edinburgh
Guildford
Leeds
Lewisham
North East Lincolnshire
Norwich
Pembrokeshire
Salford
South Norfolk
St Helens
Teignbridge
Wandsworth

Non-Eligibility

You are usually ineligible for the Housing Benefit if you are in any of the following circumstances:

Savings of over £16,000, unless you are 60 or over and receive the “Guaranteed Credit” of Pension Credit
You live in the home of a close relative
You are a full-time student (unless you have children or have a disability)
You are an asylum seeker or you are sponsored to be in the UK
You live with a partner or civil partner that already receives the benefit

If you are single and under 25, you may only receive the benefit for bed-sit accommodations or one-room accommodations in a shared accommodation.

How Much Can You Claim?

The most that you are able to claim on Housing Benefits is your eligible rent. Your eligible rent cannot be the same as your full rent. Your eligible rent includes rent for the accommodation and charges for some services including lifts, communal laundry facilities and play areas.

If water charges, charges for heating, hot water, cooking, and lighting or payments for food or fuel are included in your rent, you will not receive benefits for those services.

The amount of Housing Benefit you may get also depends on:

1. Your personal and financial circumstances

Your local council will look at:

money you and your partner or civil partner have coming in, including earnings, some benefits and tax credits, and occupational pensions
your savings (and your partner's or civil partner's savings)
your circumstances: such as your age, the size of your family and their ages, whether you or any of your family are disabled, and whether anyone who lives with you could help with the rent

2. The particulars of your home and the rent you pay

Your council will also look at whether:

the amount of rent is reasonable for your particular home
your home is a reasonable size for you and your family
the amount of rent is reasonable for the area where you live

Your eligible rent may be limited to an amount that suits the property size and area you live in.

You're assessed for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit at the same time.

If you are claiming other benefits, you should receive a form for the Housing Benefits and Council Tax Benefits, as well as the Second Adult Rebate in your packet. You will receive the packet if you claim the Pension Credit, Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance benefits. The form should be completed and returned to your local council office.

If you do not claim any of these benefits, you may pick-up the necessary forms from your local council office. The form may also be downloaded from the Department for Work and Pensions website.

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Other common terms for this subject (incl. misspellings) are:
Housing Associations - Housing Association - Housing Benefit Calculator - Housing Benifit - Council Housing - Housing Benefit UK - Housing Benefit Entitlement - Council Houses - Council House - Housing Assosiations - Housingassociations - Housing Benefit Calculation - Housing Ass - UK Housing Benefit

Housing Benefit: Can You Claim It?

1. Your personal and financial circumstances

2. The particulars of your home and the rent you pay