How much does housing benefit tend to pay

[davethorp]

I know this is a very difficult question as there are all sorts of different things they take into consideration. I've been looking into it on internet as well and it mentions a pre tenancy determination form which after reading about it seems daft as you need to have a tenancy arranged before filling it in which is surely backwards as theres little point in arranging a tenancy if housing benefit wont cover it.

Anyway back on track, as people on here know our current flat is a nightmare (and not just because our ceiling fell down but also because of the prat (polite word) upstairs), it's also way too small for a couple bringing up a child. Been considering private renting and my Mum's offered to help with the deposit but obviously we need to know how much housing benefit is likely to cover.

Our circumstances are at present neither of us work. I've been off work on a long term basis with depression. I don't receive any incapacity benefit as the jobcentre seem to think that their "doctors" (and I use the term loosely) are better qualified to judge my mental health in the space of a ten minute interview than my own GP who sees me at least once a month (but thats another matter). My partner receives Income based JSA at the rate of £90.10 a week and we also receive child tax credit (approx £50 a week) and child benefit (£18.10 a week). My partner is presently seeking work with me planning to look after our baby once she returns to work to get around the incapacity benefit problem.

We're looking for a 2 bedroom house. Rents seem to be around £400+ but we're not sure how high housing benefit is likely to go to. They currently pay our rent of £50.xx a week in full but that only equates to a little over £200 a month so really not sure they will pay almost double were we to move.

Can anyone give me even a rough idea (either if you receive housing benefit or if your a landlord and your tenants get housing benefit) of what they are likely to pay. Least then we can start looking at realistic places and not find somewhere we like only to find that housing benefit wont pay the rent

Thanks in advance and thanks also to anyone who made it this far in what's turned out to be a very long winded post

[dpick]

Originally Posted by davethorp

I know this is a very difficult question as there are all sorts of different things they take into consideration. I've been looking into it on internet as well and it mentions a pre tenancy determination form which after reading about it seems daft as you need to have a tenancy arranged before filling it in which is surely backwards as theres little point in arranging a tenancy if housing benefit wont cover it.

Anyway back on track, as people on here know our current flat is a nightmare (and not just because our ceiling fell down but also because of the prat (polite word) upstairs), it's also way too small for a couple bringing up a child. Been considering private renting and my Mum's offered to help with the deposit but obviously we need to know how much housing benefit is likely to cover.

Our circumstances are at present neither of us work. I've been off work on a long term basis with depression. I don't receive any incapacity benefit as the jobcentre seem to think that their "doctors" (and I use the term loosely) are better qualified to judge my mental health in the space of a ten minute interview than my own GP who sees me at least once a month (but thats another matter). My partner receives Income based JSA at the rate of £90.10 a week and we also receive child tax credit (approx £50 a week) and child benefit (£18.10 a week). My partner is presently seeking work with me planning to look after our baby once she returns to work to get around the incapacity benefit problem.

We're looking for a 2 bedroom house. Rents seem to be around £400+ but we're not sure how high housing benefit is likely to go to. They currently pay our rent of £50.xx a week in full but that only equates to a little over £200 a month so really not sure they will pay almost double were we to move.

Can anyone give me even a rough idea (either if you receive housing benefit or if your a landlord and your tenants get housing benefit) of what they are likely to pay. Least then we can start looking at realistic places and not find somewhere we like only to find that housing benefit wont pay the rent

Thanks in advance and thanks also to anyone who made it this far in what's turned out to be a very long winded post

Hi I am in a disabled persons 2 bedroom bungalow and get full £83 a week housing benefit plus full council tax rebate hope this helps dpick

[davethorp]

Thanks for reply. That works out close to the price area we were looking at so least thats an idea

[Joa]

Hello. You can visit entitledto for a calculation, which whilst not exact, will give you a very good idea.

[davethorp]

Thanks joa, been there but it just seems to take the whole rent into account no matter how high a figure you put and doesn't account for if the rent officer decides the rent is too high

[gizmo111]

I would say that around £400 per month is a reasonable rent for a family whatever area you live in.
The pre determiantion tenancy rent is just that ,ahousing oficer will visit the premises you wish to rent and assess if the rent you are going to be paying is fair, and if it wil lbe covered by HB. They usually do this in 48 hours after you contact them.
Also you may be eligible for a Community Care Grant ot cover the deposit.

[den3371]

Hi

I privately rent and when I was working with a salary of £22k per annum I was eligable for approx. £85 per week HB but had to pay full Council Tax.

Since my redunadnacy I get full housing bebefit of £625 per month and also full Council Tax benefit of £89 per month.

[Joa]

Dave; as with prescribed medicines, there never should be any comparisons with others when it comes to HB. There is never "an average" situation; there are so many personalised computations that question like yours can never be answered without proper interview.
Entitledto takes into consideration the rent as you enter it. Once you have the decision of the rent officer, this is the amount you enter. The rent officers tend to be a very peculiar creatures; seem to live couple of decades behind the rest of us. OK, I am being unfair, they only follow the rules. The outcome however is such that very often if you really wanted to rent within the "eligible rent" you'd need to live in a hovel. So, many private tenants end up with "eligible rent" being somewhat lower then the "real rent".
There is an option of applying for a Discretionary Housing Payments, which are discretionary payments paid together with the HB. There is no entitlement to it, but the Local Authority may decide to make these payments if you are suffering from particular financial hardship and you are not in a position to move into cheaper accommodation.
I would say apply for DHP as soon as you have the "eligible rent". There is a space on the application form for your personal statement. You need to try to convince the decision maker that you would suffer significant financial hardship without these payments. Google for Discretionary Housing Payments and angle your statements to best suit the criteria of DHP.

[pugsley]

your local council will have a list of rents per no of bedrooms etc and they will use this as a guideline for your area only.

[Billyhunt]

Hi Davethorp,

As Pugsley mentions,

The local reference rent is fixed at the midpoint of rents in the locality for accommodation of the same type and size, or, if the tenancy is deemed to be too large, for accommodation which meets the size criteria, based on market rents paid by tenants who are not receiving housing benefit.

Basically, they have a set rate for curtain types of homes, if they feel the rent being asked for by the landlord is to high for that type of property, they will only pay the percentage that they feel is correct. For example, 80% and you would have to find the rest. They do not include certain charges that you may have to pay either for example, some service charges. Also the property chosen has to be appropriate for the person/people, for example, a three bedroomed house for a single person would not be seen as meeting the size criteria.

As mentioned by Joa, there are discretionary housing payments that are paid sometimes to help with a shortfall but this is discretionary and cannot always be relied on. Housing benefit levels are set locally and differ depending on local area and authority. A pre-tenancy determination is a good way of seeing if the local authority will meet the rent costs or not. You could also contact your local authority to get a rough figure for the type of housing you are after or pop into the citiziens advice bureau as they should have a rough idea of local housing benefit levels.

Hope this helps.

[bazak1]

hi dave,
the last time i heard of my local council paying full rent, it was for approx £95 per week.
i'll check our council website and let you know more if i find anything out.
good luck.

[Joa]

Dave; as with prescribed medicines, there never should be any comparisons with others when it comes to HB. There is never "an average" situation; there are so many personalised computations that question like yours can never be answered without proper interview.

Please, I cannot stress enough how unwise it is to compare your HB payments to anyone. Can you all stop giving Dave "examples"? Because they will only lead to misinformaton!

[davethorp]

Don't worry about misinformation. Up until today I'd pretty much forgotten about this thread

[Joa]

great.
why should we bother! sigh....

[dizzydeedee]

Originally Posted by den3371

Hi

I privately rent and when I was working with a salary of £22k per annum I was eligable for approx. £85 per week HB but had to pay full Council Tax.

Since my redunadnacy I get full housing bebefit of £625 per month and also full Council Tax benefit of £89 per month.

How is this the case? My partner had an income of £13,500, we have 2 children, so get child tax credits, child benefit and i am also in receipt of disability allowance, yet combined totals nowhere near this amount you had as an income and we are NOT eligible for ANY help with housing benefit. We rent and our rent is £375, although, if the social wanted to pay us £625 we would ertainly be living in a beautiful house.

Sorry to be a bit 'catty', but I cant believe you was entitled to help on 22k and we aren't? This is so unfair.

[Joa]

This is precisely what I do not want to happen: housing benefit deductions

Dizzydeedee; please do not be angry- better focus your energy on requesting re-assessment.