Thinking of renting private accommodation?

Before you take on a tenancy and claim housing benefit, contact the benefits team.

If you are thinking of renting accommodation from a private landlord (not a Housing Association) and you are likely to need help from housing benefit to pay your rent, a calculation can be done to work out your housing benefit entitlement before you decide to rent the property.

The amount of housing benefit you might receive is worked out under the Local Housing Allowance Scheme.

Some accommodation is exempt from the Local Housing Allowance scheme, such as caravans or accommodation where an amount of the rent is for meals and services.  For accommodation exempt from the Local Housing Allowance scheme a  Pre-tenancy determination [30kb]can be requested.

A Pre-Tenancy Determination is a rental valuation by the Independent Valuation Office Agency. This valuation gives you the rent figure which will be used by the housing benefit team to work out your housing benefit entitlement. The pre-tenancy determination does not guarantee that you will get benefit.

IMPORTANT NOTE;  When your housing benefit is worked out it will take account of your income, capital and other circumstances.

The Local Housing Allowance rate or the pre-tenancy determination figure may not be the amount you actually receive in housing benefit.