Determining Housing Benefit

Calculation of Housing Benefit

For information on the calculation of Housing Benefit, please click on the link below:

How is Housing Benefit Calculated?

The rent figure we use to work out your Housing Benefit

Housing Benefit is help towards your rent only.  Your rent may include service charges that are not eligible for Benefit such as;

• Fuel costs
• Meals
• Water charges
• Counselling/Support charges
• Personal care charges
• Personal cleaning & laundry

Unless you rent from a Registered Social Landlord (Housing Associations), then the rent you pay will not necessarily be the rent that is taken into account when calculating Housing Benefit entitlement.  When calculating Housing Benefit, we have to take into account a fair rent for the property / accommodation that you are renting. 

Since April 2008, the Housing Benefit scheme has changed so that the fair rent is determined by Local Housing Allowances.  For more information on Local Housing Allowances (LHA's), please click on the link below:

Local Housing Allowance

However, there are still some properties that are exempt from the LHA rules and still need a fair rent assessment.   These claims, as well as those where Housing Benefit has been continuously paid since before April 2008, have to have a fair rent assessment determined by The Rent Service.

The Rent Officer/The Rent Service

The Rent Service (TRS) is now part of The Valuations Agency and one of their duties is to carry out fair rent assessments for council's that are responsible for administering Housing Benefit.  In such instances, the council will send various information regarding the accommodation you rent including the following:

• The amount of rent you are charged.
• The age and number of people who love with you.
• The type of accommodation you live in.
• Your tenancy details.
• The number of rooms in your accommodation and those that are used by your household.

The Rent Service will take this information and make comparisons with other rents charged in the area and the rent being charged for similar properties in other similar residential area's.  Using all of the data available to them they will make an assessment of a fair rent for the type of property you are renting and of a fair rent of a property that your circumstances needs.  They may decide to restrict the amount of Housing Benefit we can pay if it is decided that the property exceeds your needs, i.e. it is over accommodated, or if the rent that you are being charged is higher than other comparable rents.

The Rent Service will then send the council a determination and the assessed rent figure is what shall be used in the Benefit calculation.  The determination will usually run for 12 months unless there is a  significant change to the property or the number of people included within the household.

Pre-tenancy determinations (PTD)

If you wish to claim Housing Benefit on a new property and are not subject to Local Housing Allowance rules, you can ask the Rent Service to make a valuation before you commit to a new tenancy.  You may also do this if your existing tenancy is coming to an end and you have been offered a new one at a higher rent.

To do this you must contact us on (01527) 881288 to request a Pre Tenancy Determination form.

Please note, most new claims or changes in address from April 2008 will be subject to Local Housing Allowance rules so a Pre Tenancy Determination will not be applicable.

If a fair rent assessment or pre tenancy determination is made, the amount of Housing Benefit you are entitled to shall be dependant on your income and circumstances.  A fair rent assessment details the amount of rent to be used in your Benefit calculation and is not a decision on how much help you will receive.

If you do not agree with the decision made

If you do not agree with the decision that has been made by the Rent Officer you should write and tell us.  We can then ask the Rent Officer to look at the decision again based on the information you have put in your letter.  Please note if we ask the Rent Officer to look at the decision again the maximum rent we could pay may go down, remain the same or increase