Overview

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) introduced LHA to provide tenants with more choice and responsibility about where they live and how they manage their own finances.

From April 2008, Local Housing Allowance (LHA) replaced Housing Benefit (HB) for most tenants renting property in the private sector.

The two main features of the scheme are:

Under LHA, tenants will have greater choice about where to live, without this affecting their benefit. In addition, tenants will also be able to keep some of the excess benefit, where the rate of LHA is more than their rent.

The DWP firmly believe that tenants should be responsible for receiving LHA themselves and paying their own rent, reflecting the way other welfare benefits are paid. Giving tenants responsibility for their own finances will improve their opportunities for accessing work.

Purpose of the policy

However, the DWP recognise that paying LHA directly to the tenant will not always be appropriate in every case.

Issues of vulnerability and the risk of a tenant not paying their rent should be safeguarded against. The purpose of the Safeguard Policy is to set out the Council’s framework for determining the circumstances where payments of LHA will be made to the landlord, instead of the tenant.

Aims and objectives

The aims and objectives of this policy are to:

• Provide a safeguard for the most vulnerable tenants and reassure them that their benefit and rent will be paid
• Help prevent rent arrears and tenants being put at risk of eviction
• Help sustain tenancies for vulnerable tenants
• Reassure landlords that their rent will be paid if they have vulnerable tenants or if they are approached by vulnerable tenants
• Help put tenants in touch with other agencies where appropriate and give people the opportunity and support to manage their own tenancies and finances
• Ensure that Council officers make reasonable, fair and consistent decisions
• Promote a transparent and simple process that is widely understood
• Treat each case individually and avoid making assumptions about people’s situations.

There are two main reasons why the Council may need to consider this policy:

• Where the tenant is vulnerable
• Where it is unlikely that the tenant will pay their rent.

View the Local Housing Allowance Safeguard Policy