Local Housing Allowance

What is Local Housing Allowance (LHA)?

LHA came in on 7 April 2008 and is just another way of working out some peoples Housing Benefit entitlement. 

Like Housing Benefit, it is for people on a low income who rent from private landlords.  By private landlords, we mean properties rented from someone other than the council.  However, there will be some tenants who may be exempt, such as those renting from registered social landlord, charities and voluntary organisations, and those who have pre 1989 tenancies. Other exemptions include caravans, houseboats and hostels, and cases where the rent officer judges that a substantial part of the rent is attributable to board and attendance.  If you would like to find out if you are affected by LHA, please use our webpage Does Local Housing Allowance affect me?

LHA is based on a rent level to do with the number of rooms you are allowed, not always how much the rent is.  If you want to find out how many rooms you are allowed please use our webpage What is my LHA rate?

Once you know that your claim will be based on LHA rules and what your LHA room rate is, you will then need to know what Broad Rental Market Area the property you want to rent fits into.

What is a Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA)?

A BRMA is an area which the Rent Service will take rental information from to come up with the LHA rates for other properties in that area.  Each BRMA is made up of at least two distinct but adjoining areas of accommodation which allows access to facilities for health, education, recreation, personal banking and shopping, and contains a variety of types of premises and tenancies.

Our district is split between two BRMA's so if you rent a home in our district, your home will be in one of these BRMA's.  Please make sure you know what BRMA your property is in, as this may affect your benefit.  A postcode finder is available on the LHA-Direct website.

The BRMAs are:

The Canterbury BRMA

This BRMA covers most of the Canterbury district except for the villages around Adisham, see below for a list of the villages not wholly within the Canterbury BRMA.

The Dover Shepway BRMA

This BRMA covers the villages of

• Adisham
• Blooden
• Bossington
• Cooting
• Ileden
• Woolage Village
• Womenswold

How do I know what BRMA my property is in? 

You can find out by:

• Using the post code seach on the LHA-Direct website
• Looking at the map of the district showing both BRMA's including a map of the Dover Shepway BRMA
• Looking at our postcode list 

Once you know your BRMA, you can find out what your LHA rate is.

LHA rates

LHA rates are based on the room level a family needs and the BRMA a propery is in.  The LHA rates change monthly, but you get the rate for the month that your date of claim or date of move falls in.  If the LHA rates change after that, your benefit isn't affected until you have a relevant change or a year has passed.

The LHA rates are available to view, and you can subscribe to receive e-mail updates of LHA rates.

If your LHA rate is lower than your rent, we will base your claim on your LHA rate.
If your LHA rate is the same as your rent, we will base your claim on your rent.
If your LHA rate is higher than your rent, we will base your claim on the lower of either the LHA rate, or your weekly rent plus £15.

Examples of Local Housing Allowance calculations are available here.